Monday, June 13, 2011

All Things Frances Chesterton Biography

I thought I would try to collect here everything I've done so far on the Frances Chesterton biography.

Recording of my talk at the 29th Chesterton Conference. Audio here. DVD here, the title of the talk was "The Woman Who Was Chesterton".

Frances's first book: The Children's Crusade, Sir Cleges, The Christmas Gift, Three Plays for Children by Frances Chesterton.

Frances's second book: Piers Plowman's Pilgrimage: A Morality Play by Frances Chesterton.

I've kept everyone up to date on my book progress at Uncommon Sense: The Podcast of the American Chesterton Society.

As many of you know, the research involved in this biography of this most intriguing lady is daunting due to the fact that much of the work involving Frances has yet to be published. I've been working with The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, which has a wonderful collection of Chesterton letters.

After working with the Wade Center, I'm pleased to announce that I've just been awarded the 2011 Clyde S. Kilby Research Grant for my biography of Frances.

I'm still a bit short of $$ for all the scans I need from the British Library, but I've got an idea in mind to involve everyone interested in this project. Stay tuned.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Trash: a good young adult book

Someone on line recommended this book, and I just read it. It is considered a young adult book, but has none of the usual young adult "trash" in it. :-)

This book is actually about a couple of boys (age 14) who spend their time on a trash heap in an unnamed country which sounds exactly like the Phillipines. One day, they find something, and the mystery begins.

The story is entrancing and engaging, a real page turner. The young adult part I believe is because of the corruption and torture going on in the government. The jail scene is awful, as well. Awful mostly because it is probably an accurate picture, and so it just breaks your heart.

My one criticism is of the choice of how the boys decide to return the stolen goods, I thought it ended a little bit cheesy, and I had an idea in my head of how they would make things right, and it didn't happen that way, so I suppose that's why I didn't care for the ending. However, despite that, it was still a good read.

If you are looking for a good cause to support after reading this book, please consider The Lingap Center. They are doing good things.