Huckelberry Finn by Mark Twain (1885) Illu.

An awesome page turner... for the 1st 2/3s. The moment Tom Sawyer shows up the book spirals out of control. I have not read Tow Sayer and its not on my list if it is anything like the Huck Finn version of Tom.

This rendering of Huck fishing for dinner is so alluring its hard to look at; a level of serenity that can only be found in childhood (or a book.)

The entire thing is in "Southern Speak" and once you get used to it, its fun. I don't know much about Clemens but he had influences from both north and south, he did however grow up, work on, and live on the Great Mississippi.

The King an the duke are such rascals, thieving, cheating, bums. They are the another example of Huck's "follower" nature; he followed his father, he followed Tom, as well as these two bums. Huck usually took the lazy way out and couldn't see, was blind too, or lacked the proper leadership, to value education; that education that his aunt offered.

I suppose it really is a child's dream book serving the purpose of providing an escape unlike no one can have anymore.

So Huck goes along learning life lessons or not, but often takes the time to reflect; its great. He regularly finds himself in unwinable situations... "damned if you do or damned if you don't." Constantly reviewing his moral compass he was doing better and better only to backslide upon Tom's arrival. I was really rooting for his overall recovery from the dark side but ultimately he freely expresses that he is just a bad person and so there is no turning back.

The thing with Tom and his ridiculous schemes is that Huck could have said "NO" or "your an idiot" but instead goes along as if he had no choice. Twain never gives a reason for Huck's lack of spine other than his apparent low self esteem.

I can't resist thinking about (and living through) the wonderful world BC, to not know anything about relatives and friends once they are out of sight. It seems like it would be so stressful and yet we speak of this very little, now of course we complain of knowing too much.

The Fall of the House of Dixie by Bruce Levine (2013)

Continuing on with but not ending at Uncle Tom's Cabin I heard about this and decided to go for it.Yes, America's skeleton in the closet, slavery.

The GWtW version of the south before and after the war touches so little on slavery and UTC is focused on conditions and consequences. Also I just finished Huckleberry Finn where Clemens portrays a world just before the the war.

Levine's outline takes us from the early in the 1800's to post war. Here in the North the subject is usually dismissed as a states wrights issue, so I suppose, we don't have to discuss the details or the controversies.

The 100 or so year feudal system that the south had developed is interesting in that it mimicked what was common in Europe but was fast crumbling over there. I don't think that a family with a couple of generations of wealth behind it compares however to a family with a couple of centuries of wealth. In other words these people may have been "much closer to the earth" than say a Downtown Abbey sort of family.

The South's aristocratic hierarchy or cast system benefited the few but made all part of the agreement, so by having more than one class one could always feel better off that someone else. But the wealthy discovered, their wealth did not protect them from destruction no matter how loud they shouted. I would like to hear the story of the people who left before the war (if any) with their wealth intact, now that would have shown intelligence.

The subject of "the slaves didn't mind being slaves" is off the table, of course they did. Were they better off? well that's another story because they were so unprepared for freedom. After the war the retribution heaped upon them was shameful. Maybe the concept of a slow transition to freedom was just too impossible but slow transitions are always easier to accept than short ones. The South hastened the end of slavery by decades in their ill thought out zeel to maintain it.

As far as it being a rich man's war well it certainly was. The poor owned no slaves but were easily outraged with jingoistic rhetoric from there leadership.

Levine Illustrates the numerous ways that slavery and feudal aristocracy were coveted by the exceptionally wealthy with 100's of quotes from letters and news articles of the time.

If the reader is a battle historian this book would fill in many of the whys and hows of the some of the inexplicable self destructive moves made by the Southern leadership.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (1820) Illu.

I loved it, it's amazing to think of what Scott created in writing methodology, the time overlapping is well done. Occasionally you wonder what happened to a character but eventually all loose ends are tied up. I agree though regarding Aethelstane's return from the dead was a little much and I think unnecessary to get him out of a fix the way Shakespeare used to bring them back to life. It is satisfying to have Aethelstane let the young people have each other.

The history lesson is great and leaves one thinking and looking for the actuality of the Plantagenet line. The story explains that the Normans from France were actively upgrading the culture that was predominant on the British Isles beforehand.

Ivanhoe has aligned himself with King Richard the Lion Hearted. Ironically Ivanhoe speaks possibly the fewest words of any of any character in the entire story; he is known far and wide for his actions.
The descriptions of Coningsburgh Castle are so enticing and unlike the 19th century reader I just pick up my IPhone and see it for my self, bridging both time and space from the comfort of my reading chair.

The amount of Jew bashing was a real an eye-opener; I think in terms of WWII but this hate thing has been going on forever! A substantial part of the book is devoted to Isaac and his daughter they are good characters too. Scott is only reporting on how things may have been for the Jews in the 1100's, during his time in England laws were changing with respect to discrimination.

With in-depth descriptions of the "Lists" and "tilting" all the while weaving the story between characters makes this a must read for those interested in the origins and functioning of chivalry.

I never understood how the Isles (being so small) could be so steadfast against change in one area and under constant change in another; the Scots and the Irish have maintained their uninterrupted blood lines far better than the southerners.

As I am buying exclusively Illustrated versions of the classics; I spent a lot of time on Ebay looking for the "best" illustrated version I could find; for me I think this is it. I love the Schoonover illustrations; they really help set the tone and "paint" the picture. They are old fashioned renderings, of an old fashioned story, about an old fashioned time.

Candide by Voltaire (1759) Illu. Rockwell Kent

Completely unaware of what I was getting into I picked up a vintage 1929 copy of Candide with of course cool renderings through-out. Having not followed a lot of satire in my recent readings I was unprepared for Voltaire's brutal truism's about life; it is very good, humorous in a macabre way.  

Unfortunately as with all of the publications like this one the cover is badly faded, cheap dye I guess.
But its the illustrations by Kent that I am so pleased with, how ever disturbing some of them are, and there are plenty, every page has something on it.

Death and destruction, betrayal and cruelty, what appears to be one thing is something else entirely.

Here is Candide leaving the only place that where he was happy with the treasures that ultimately carry him along in relative comfort but due to his lack of shrewdness and the unrelenting evil imposed on him by others he is regularly relieved of its burden.

Each chapter is it's own little episode that leads with the previous and ends heading towards the next.

I don't know why Voltaire wrote this book; it has a peculiar feel about it. I guess he may have been at the the forefront of the period of questioning religion and believing in science. By the time we get to Madame Bovary the questioning is in full swing!

Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (1815) Illu.

Now we are really getting back there. Waverley is a good read, I will have to read it again however because the language gap is sooo great!
Scott uses so many unheard of words in  our present day speaking that make whole paragraphs were unintelligible, so you just power through and take the hint of it.

I found this 1961 printing with illustrations by Robert Ball. They are not compelling illustrations but regardless, illustrations always add to the reading experience.

With Waverley Scott basically INVENTED the fictional historic novel format so popular today.

I have been intrigued by the English and their world building penchant. The story is about the last attempt by the Scott's to bring the Stuart "heir" back to the thrown in 1745. Again just like the Souths attempt at succession they were unprepared and over confident (a seemingly common trait of feudal societies as they implode.) If we look at the world in the 18th century we see the changes coming as population explodes and the working class shows it's tremendous ingenuity and ambition. In just another 31 years America will win it's freedom from English rule.

Scott is writing this 60 years after the fact and is trying to give us a picture of the final throws of the feudal Scotland. The translations of Gaelic are just great especially if you have any familiarity with it. Life lessons are few but the "cards we are dealt" is more than a theme, it is the story. Scott lived in a time where being born into a class was how the world was.

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Longfellow (1855) Illu.

OK I know that Hiawatha is considered a little lame but it is a wonderful read. I found this illustrated 1898 copy in Frankfort Mi. and it is beautiful.
Reading it is purely fun; many of the verses roll off your tongue as if you have read them before. It is simply a pleasure at times.

One has to read the history of the writing and some of the controversy surrounding it but then just leave all of that and enjoy the ride.
I especially enjoyed the description of H building a birch bark canoe; made me want to go out and build one myself... someday maybe.
The etchings are excellent and informative. Longfellow attempts to teach a little Indian language along the way, each chapter is a discrete story within the whole tale.

A strange concept indeed considering it was just before the civil war and during a time when manifest destiny was at it's height of popular national identity. Written by a New Eng-lander feeling sorry for the inevitable, it ends with the Noble savage riding off into the sunset.

Marmion by Sir Walter Scott (1808)

                After my deep dive into the Icelandic tales of Sigurd I went thru several of the classic tales such as The Green Knight and Beowulf. Thumbing thru the books at one estate sale the title Marmion took my eye, I picked it up and instantly decided to give it a try; the title alone seems to leap out. It is great, I love it. I subsequently bought a couple of copies including the one pictured printed in 1818; it’s in pretty good shape but should not be toyed with, the 1^st one I read was in delicate shape and can’t stand much more use. The 1818 copy printed while Scott was still alive, is for collecting but a third version a 1911 copy published by the American Book Company is great because it footnotes and glossaries all of the odd terms; very helpful. 

Scott’s prose are fantastic and it is so easy to imagine reading to friends and family around the fire back before the curse of television. I will admit that prose like this is hard to read. You have to really want it and at the same time be willing to move thru it slowly and deliberately. To get thru it sometimes you simply take the gist of it, that’s easy enough but making sure you are following the story line is harder. I’m afraid that I always use Wikipedia and other such summary to help in understanding anything so foreign as this.

The writing starts like this:

 Day set on Norman’s castled steep,
And Tweed’s fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot’s mountains lone:
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loophole grates, where captives weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow luster shown.
The warriors on the turrets high,
moving athwart the evening sky,
Seemed forms of giant height:
Their armor, as it caught the rays,
Flashed back again the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light.

The story is a fictional account of the actual battle of Flodden Field, (September 1513) Scott tells of the battle and intertwines stories of love, deceit, fortunes lost and regained. The outcome of this obscure but ultimately significant battle was another turning point in English history. Again as one might say happened in the American civil war we have an extremely arrogant leadership that enlists the whole of the aristocracy only to have it destroyed. Arrogance is a blinding force in human nature.

I was so taken with the story that I subsequently read a complete 2003 publication: Flodden: A Scottish Tragedy by Peter Reese describing the battle and the actual intrigue surrounding it. This is the period of Henry VIII. 
King James (King of the Scotts) was implored by the Queen of France to distract Henry from his war with her. A chivalrous womanizer James assembled the aristocracy as best he could but was horribly demolished by his poor tactics and the latest warfare technology of the English (sound familiar?) The fathers and sons of all of the greatest Scotch families of the day were killed during this ill-fated campaign and so with it crumbled there society.