July Junque: Day 13

July Junque - classic literature is a challenge

When I attended the One Day University back in May, the book lecture session suggested that one step out of the comfort zone and read a classic (if that isn't your norm). So I bought a doorstopper of a book - Middlemarch by George Eliot - and (gasp) I am enjoying it.

Now, I can't recommend it because it is daunting and it is actually easy to put down. Since end of May, I've also read my usual magazines, and a few other books (plus the graphic novel Snowpiercer).
However, in the proper frame of mind, this slice of life from the late 1800s is amusing. Many of the manners and mores in the town of Middlemarch are quite applicable today or not.  The question of a proper marriage and what that entails. Women swooning at times, and men assuming women are not capable of scholarly thought. If you consider the times, the book is a social history lesson.

This is not a book to peruse or gloss over. I will read a chapter and wish at times for a dictionary. The language is rich and dense and mindboggling in structure. But there's scandal, heartbreak, love, and yearning.

p. 776 She had never felt anything like this triumphant power of indignation in the struggle of her married life, in which there had always been a quickly subduing pang, and she took it as a sign of new strength.

July is a good month to stretch the mind while sitting on the patio. Just don't drop Middlemarch on your bare foot.

Who is a Hero?

"Who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary," said Miep Gies in a 1997 interview. (Associated Press) She considered it her human duty to help hide the Frank family during World War II. Unfortunately, the family was ultimately discovered and sent to concentration camps. But, left behind in their tiny quarters was The Diary of Anne Frank.

Miep Gies found it and returned it to Anne's father, Otto, after the war. Anne died in the camps but thankfully her words were able to survive, be published, translated, and forever remembered. The diary is a tale of dreams, worries, concerns, angst, love, family, and hope. At a time of true despair, it registered hope for the future.

Strong and powerful, The Diary of Anne Frank is a classic and plain and simple - a darn good read for any age at any time.

Miep Gies died at the age of 100 this past week, a quiet unassuming hero.