Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron

Jane Austen's second mystery has her vacationing with her family in the seaside village of Lyme. The town is famous for its harbor wall called the Cobb, which Austen included in her novel Persuasion (though it will be a long time before this fictional version of Austen writes that book). The Cobb is also an important feature in The Man of the Cloth since that's where the first dead body is found. Austen of course takes an interest in the murder (for good reasons that I won't spoil here) and begins to look into it.

I like the setting of the previous mystery a little more with its old manor house, but Lyme is quaint and located near dramatic cliffs, so I enjoy spending time there too. The mystery is good with lots of characters to explore and unravel and I love the element of a mysterious red-cloaked girl wandering the sea cliffs with a lantern.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron

I've re-read this several times, but recently did it again in order to catch up to the rest of the series (which I'll also jot some notes about here in yet another attempt to figure out what to do with this blog).

I love the series. I've always known who Jane Austen was and what she wrote, but it was Stephanie Barron (a pen-name for Francine Mathews) who introduced me to Austen as a human being who happened to also write several classic novels. Her Austen is observant, smart, and funny. The mysteries tend to be spooky, but even when they aren't, they're compelling. Barron includes great details to bring the historical period to life and has created a fantastic cast of supporting characters (some based on real people, but not all) who follow Jane from book to book. 

This one picks up right after Jane has rejected a marriage proposal. It would have been a good match for practical purposes, but she didn't love him. Her decision created some drama in the family and community, so in this novel she escapes to stay with a recently married friend and her husband. And when the husband dies under suspicious circumstances and people start looking side-eyed at Jane's friend, Jane takes it on herself to find out what really happened. 

And there may be a family ghost involved.

The story tends to drag a little for me in the middle these days, but I think that's because I'm so familiar with it that I'm eager to get to the final revelations at the end. It certainly didn't feel slow the first time I read it.

Thinking About God

Evan Hanson and I have talked for a couple of years about producing a feature on After Lunch where we talk about the intersection of religion, philosophy, and art. The word "art" might give the wrong impression. Mostly we're thinking about movies and TV shows that spark ideas in us about religion and philosophy. 

We're very serious about doing it, but if you listen to After Lunch, you know that Evan's wife is ill and has been for a while. So Evan's time for podcasting is limited and it's impossible to predict when we'll get around to adding this series to the show.

When we first started talking about it, Evan came up with a list of topics that we could discuss. So while I try to do something with this blog, I think it might be good for me to take a stab at writing about each of these topics a little. Not instead of producing the episodes or in any way competing with that project, but just as a form of note-taking for myself. When we do get around to the series, I may use some of this or I may find that I've completely changed my mind. And it will certainly be true that conversations with Evan will challenge how I think about these topics. He's done at least as much thinking about religion as I have and endlessly more study of the world's philosophers. 

His idea for the first episode is a natural place to begin: Introductions. It'll just be a chance for us to talk about our backgrounds with religion, spirituality, and philosophy and why we're both interested in discussing those things with each other on a podcast. Evan has questions about how religion, spirituality, and philosophy are alike and how they're different. And what our relationships are to religious and philosophical texts: how we read and apply them.

I've only done basic high school study of philosophy, though I'm very interested in big ideas and excited to hear Evan explain them so that we can talk them over. I've spent a lot more time on religion and spirituality - my whole life really - and it's going to be a challenge not to ramble about my background. I'll try to be concise.

I was raised by Christian parents and have always believed in that view of God. I have doubts that I'll talk about in future posts and eventually on the podcast, but I cannot shake off the belief that someone created all of this. I don't believe this is opposed to Science. I'm sure this will get fleshed out later too, but I believe that Faith and Science are answering two different questions and that we come closest to the truth when we use them together. 

I passed the point where walking away from my belief in the Christian view of God is even a possibility. There's no part of me that wants to, however many questions I have about him. But that's mostly because I've spent my life asking those questions and receiving good answers. As it turned out, my biggest questions weren't about the believability of God, but about specific ideas about him that I heard as a kid. When I kept an open mind about the theology and allowed my vision of God to change and grow, I found that I was always led to a view of him that made sense. 

I got my Bachelors degree in Theology with the intent of going full time into ministry, but one of the benefits of that education was that I learned I didn't want to become a professional minister. I don't regret a dollar or minute that I spent though. I learned new ways of thinking about God and Scripture that I've used the rest of my life and have shared with other people. 

This is getting long, so I'll save for another post the questions about how religion, spirituality, and philosophy are alike to me and how I think they're different. And what my current relationship is to the Bible, the religious text I'm most familiar with, and how I read and apply it.

Christmas 2024

We had a relaxing, comfortable Christmas again this year. With David grown and it just being the three of us in the house, that's the vibe we go for lately. 

Last year, Diane let me know that real Christmas trees are hard on her allergies, so I bought her an artificial tree as her big Christmas gift. David and I put it up this year and loved how easy it was to assemble. No trying to make it stand up straight and tying it to a wall to keep it from falling over. No futilely trying to keep it watered to prevent it from drying out too quickly. And it already has lights on it right out of the box. 

We've lost the romance of going to our favorite tree farm and cutting down our own, but I did still bring in real greenery for the holiday. We always get a real wreath for the front door, so this year at the nursery I also picked up some garland: white pine like our Christmas trees used to be. I hung it on the railings going up to our front porch and also the railing on the inside stairs. It wasn't as full and lush as I imagined, but it's pretty in a humble sort of way. Bob Cratchit would like it.

For the last several years, I have a tradition of starting the same book every December. It's called Christmas: A Treasury of Verse and Prose, a collection of art and writing curated by Sheila Pickles. The writing is a mix of letters, essays, and story excerpts that Pickles describes as helping her keep Christmas in context. It has the same effect on me. It's so easy to let the holiday get out of control and these paintings and writings (mostly from the 19th Century) either describe very simple, but joyful holidays or communicate thoughts about Christmas that ground me in its meaning about Christ, but also family and friends.

We always get together with my side of the family a few times during the season. I help my Mom make one of my favorite holiday treats, a fruit-filled pastry that I and some other out-of-town family and friends can't celebrate without. We make them, I take some home, and she ships the rest around the country.

Then there's our annual trip to the very small town of Kellogg, Minnesota where we have lunch at the same diner every year before going to Lark Toys, a magical independent toy store that has individual rooms for various kinds of toys, but also books and games. There's a huge collection of vintage toys to look at. There's also a soda counter/grill, a fudge shop, a candy store, and an indoor carousel with beautiful, hand-carved wooden animals to ride. 

Rather than buy individual gifts for family members, my folks treat us to some kind of Christmas outing every year: a play or a concert or something like that. This year we watched the Minnesota Orchestra perform a tribute to John Denver, my Mom's favorite musician and someone the whole family has a lot of fondness and nostalgia for. The concert featured Christmas songs, but also all the signature stuff like "Country Roads" and "Rocky Mountain High" and "Calypso," a personal favorite of mine. Accompanying the orchestra were members of John Denver's old band, but also archival recordings of him singing. As someone who grew up on this music, it was incredibly moving for me.

Finally, my brother and his wife traditionally host Christmas Eve dinner, though this year their schedule prevented it being on Christmas Eve. That worked well for Diane, David, and I though. 

For most of our married life, Christmas Eve has been a time to get together with Diane's side of the family. There was a traditional meal and lots of caroling accompanied by Diane's mom on the piano. After Diane's folks died, we continued the tradition at her brother's place (without the piano accompaniment), but he and her other siblings have gradually moved to other towns and cities, so now it's a chaotically fun Zoom call. 

Typically, we'd have to leave my brother's place after dinner to get home in time to call Diane's family. And then the last couple of years, we've adopted the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóðið. We buy each other a selection of books to be opened on Christmas Eve, then we spend the night reading. It's a wonderful, relaxed, low-stress way to finish an evening directly following two different family gatherings. But this year, with my side's family meal moved to a different night, there wasn't the usual rushing around before book time.

Christmas Day was also very relaxed. We slept in and opened gifts around 10:00. Then we didn't have anything else scheduled until dinner time, so we leisurely cleaned up and spent the rest of the day reading and/or napping. My big gift for the year was an iPad. I resisted it for years, because I didn't think I needed it, but my little Kindle wasn't cutting it for reading digital comics, so I finally asked Santa for a larger screen and spent the afternoon catching up with Wonder Woman.

My sister and her family came over for an informal Christmas dinner (our oven broke a couple of days ago, but Santa brought us an air fryer that saved the meal). Then we relaxed some more until about 10:00 pm when Diane went to bed and David and I went to a late show of Robert Eggers' Nosferatu. 

Greatness Will Not Make Me Happy

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility and was struck by this exchange between Elinor and Edward. She speaks first. Not accusatorily; just matter-of-factly.

"You have no ambition, I well know. Your wishes are all moderate." 

"As moderate as those of the rest of the world, I believe. I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but like every body else it must be in my own way. Greatness will not make me so."

Edward gets it.

The Express Purpose of Interfering

I just finished reading The Peril at End House, a Hercule Poirot mystery by Agatha Christie. It's very very good, but I was especially struck by a bit of theology that Poirot brings up.

There's a minor spoiler in this, so if the book is on your reading list and you want to remain totally surprised, you'll want to skip this whole thing.

Some set up: Poirot and his buddy Hastings suspect that someone is trying to murder a young woman named Nick. It's an unusual case, because they're trying to prevent a murder instead of solve one. That's one of the things I love about the book. 

But here's the spoiler: Nick's cousin Maggie is dressed similarly to Nick at one point and is killed instead. Shortly after, Poirot and Hastings talk about what happened. Hastings is narrating and begins:

"It's really amazing the way Nick has escaped. It seems almost incredible." 

And suddenly I remembered the tone in Frederica’s voice as she had said: "Nick bears a charmed life." 

I shivered a little. 

"Yes," said Poirot, thoughtfully. "And I can take no credit to myself. Which is humiliating."

"Providence," I murmured. 

"Ah, mon ami, I would not put on the shoulders of the good God the burden of men’s wrongdoing. You say that in your Sunday morning voice of thankfulness — without reflecting that what you are really saying is that le bon Dieu has killed Miss Maggie Buckley." 

"Really, Poirot!" 

"Really, my friend! But I will not sit back and say 'le bon Dieu has arranged everything, I will not interfere.' Because I am convinced that le bon Dieu created Hercule Poirot for the express purpose of interfering."

It's a profound, important idea that Poirot expresses. Hastings offers a quick, simple platitude about the Providence of God being responsible for saving Nick, but he hasn't thought through the implications. Hastings is never the deepest thinker, but someone a little more thoughtful would realize what Poirot points out: that God can't just get credit for saving Nick. If Hastings is right, then God must also taking the blame for murdering Maggie.

Poirot goes even deeper though and dismisses the idea that God had a direct hand in the affair at all. In Poirot's view, God has placed his people on the Earth to act on God's behalf. We don't get to sit back and wait for God to fix the world. We have to understand that it's our job to fix it as God's agents. That the way he fixes it is through us. 

It's a terrifying responsibility that more of God's people need to take seriously, but I think Poirot is absolutely right.

Thinking About Blogging (About Thinking)

I want to get back to doing some actual blogging rather than using this space to promote podcast episodes. I feel like by now everyone knows where to find my podcasts if they're interested. And for those who don't, the individual websites for each one are in the sidebar. 

I don't have a specific blogging plan other than to ease into it. I'm not gonna set any huge projects for myself right away. I need this to be spontaneous and fun. This is just a note to express my intention. Less podcast promo, more actual thoughts about things.

After Lunch | Planet of the Apes (1968)

Rob, Pax, and I visit the Planet of the Apes! Kicking off a bunch of discussions about the simian series, we start with a quick conversation about Pierre Boulle's novel before exploring the 1968 movie that started a phenomenon. 

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After Lunch | Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

On the 200th episode of After Lunch, Rob, Karen Flieger, and I close out the Sean Connery era of the Bond films with Diamonds Are Forever. We talk about the return of Connery, whether it's a worthy follow-up to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the wisdom of hiring a jazz musician and Crispin Glover's dad to play assassins. The movie's directed by Goldfinger's Guy Hamilton and also stars Jill St John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, and Jimmy Dean.

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Hellbent for Letterbox | The Walking Hills (1949)

I accidentally pulled a fast one and made Pax watch a non-historical Western, John Sturges' The Walking Hills. It stars Randolph Scott and Ella Raines as two members of a party that enters the desert dunes looking for a lost wagon train and (according to legend) the gold that it was carrying.

But even though the movie takes place in the 1940s, the comic Pax read does not: the Sixth Gun mini-series Shadow Roads.

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After Lunch | Introducing: After Midnight

We're soon going to start a new horror-focused series of episodes called After Lunch After Midnight featuring Michael and his pal Jessica Hickman. It's sort of a spin-off of another podcast called Filthy Horrors that they did together with their mutual pal Darla Ecklund. So to introduce After Midnight, we thought it might be good to rerun the first episode of Filthy Horrors in which Jess, Darla, and Michael talk about their history with horror, the kinds of horror they like, and lots of examples of favorite horror movies, TV shows, books, and comics.

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