CDB

Posted on May 28, 2017 by MEEThinks

Many years ago (more than 50, I think … is that “many?”) my room-mate and I lived next door to a family with a cute little girl named Judy. We became friends and are still friends (although we don’t see each other nearly often enough).

One time when we got together she showed me a book I had given her years earlier: CDB. Some of you may have seen and read it. It’s so clever! One interesting “factoid” about the book is that children catch on faster than adults. So wake up the child in you and see if you can read the book. And yes – I’ll include the “answers” as part of this post (I don’t want to drive you crazy on a beautiful Sabbath morning!).

CDB – A book by William Steig

(See the bee) CDB!

D B S A B-Z B

O, S N-D!

I N-V U

R U C-P?

S, I M

I M 2

A P-N-E 4 U

K-T S X-M-N-N D N-6

D N S 5 X

I M 2 O-L 4 U

O U Q-T

U R A B-U-T

I M B-4 U

R U O K?

S, N-Q

I M A U-M B-N

U R N N-M-L

D C-L S N D C

D D-R S N D I-V

D L-F-N 8 D A

S E-Z 4 U, S?

B-4 U X-M-N L-C, X-M-N R-V

H-U!

Y R U Y-N-N?

I N O

I C U

S N-E-1 N?

L-X-&-R N I R N D C-T

I N O

K-T S D-Z

I C Y!

I 8 U!

I 8 U 2!

F U R B-Z, I-L 1 O-A

L-C S N X-T-C

E S D 1 4 U 2 C

I M N D L-F-8-R

M N X S L-T 4 U!

I M C-N A G-P-C

N-R-E S N T-S

I M N A T-P

P-T N J R N J-L

O 4 A 2-L

E-R S A M-R

S M-T!

I F-N N-E N-R-G

I M C-N U!

N-D U R

U R P-K-N!

P-T S N N-M-E

I O U 5 X

O, I C M

D Y-N S X-L-N!

O-L H

I O U A J

I M N N-D-N

O, I C

U 8 L D X!

SOME ADDITIONAL IDEAS (Not in the book)

A P C 8

I A-P-C-8 U

2 D RSQ

AND NOW YOU CAN SEE IF YOU GOT THEM RIGHT!

(The bee is a busy bee!) D B S A B-Z B

(Oh, yes indeed!) O, S N-D!

(A kid watching another kid with a treat) I N-V U

(2 kids in bed at night) R U C-P?

(Yes, I am) S, I M

(I am too) I M 2

(A boy giving a flower to a girl) A P-N-E 4 U

(Leaning down looking at ants) K-T S X-M-N-N D N-6

(The hen [has] is sitting on a nest with 5 eggs) D N S 5 X

(Older girl explaining to a little boy) I M 2 O-L 4 U

(Oh! You cutie!) O U Q-T

(You are a beauty) U R A B-U-T

(To someone standing behind him in line) I M B-4 U

(A girl who is ice skating has fallen down) R U O K?

(Yes, thank you) S, N-Q

(Boy pointing to a dog: I am a human being) I M A U-M B-N

(You are an animal) U R N N-M-L

(The seal is in the sea) D C-L S N D C

(A deer in ivy) D D-R S N D I-V

(Elephant ate the hay) D L-F-N 8 D A

(Boy asking guy lifting big bar-bell, and she responds “It’s easy for you, yes?”) S E-Z 4 U, S?

(Nurse to Dr. while boy and girl wait) B-4 U X-M-N L-C, X-M-N R-V

(Guy sneezing) H-U!

(Boy asks crying girl) Y R U Y-N-N?

(She says) I N O

(Girl looking at herself in a mirror) I C U

(Man looking in an open door) S N-E-1 N?

(Alexander and girl are “in the city”) L-X-&-R N I R N D C-T

(Teacher at board pointing at 2+2; boy looks puzzled) I N O

(Girl twirling; Katie is dizzy) K-T S D-Z

(I see why!) I C Y!

(Two girls shouting at each other) I 8 U!

(I hate you too!) I 8 U 2!

(Guy talking to busy man at a desk) F U R B-Z, I-L 1 O-A

(Girl dancing in flowers, holding some) L-C S N X-T-C

(A man pointing a boy to where he needs to go) E S D 1 4 U 2 C

(Guy in elevator) I M N D L-F-8-R

(Mother talking to pouting boy at breakfast) M N X S L-T 4 U!

(Boy sitting at table looking at Gypsy with a crystal ball) I M C-N A G-P-C

(Baby boy sitting alone crying) N-R-E S N T-S

(Boy in a tent … a teepee) I M N A T-P

(Two guys in a jail cell – Pete and Jay) P-T N J R N J-L

(Boy is building something) O 4 A 2-L

(Girl hands him a hammer) E-R S A M-R

(Two boys looking in a big empty box) S M-T!

(Boy leaning on a tree talking to his friend) I F-N N-E N-R-G

(Boy peeking through a peep-hole in a fence) I M C-N U!

(Mad girl on the other side of the fence) N-D U R P-K-N!

(Boys throwing snowballs at each other) P-T S N N-M-E

(Lady brings eggs in a bowl to a neighbor) I O U 5 X

(Other lady responds) O, I C M NQ

(Two men at dinner, drinking wine) D Y-N S X-L-N!

(Old man sitting on a chair leaning on his cane) O-L H

(Man gives a caged bird to another man) I O U A J

(Boy dressed up with Indian headdress) I M N N-D-N

(Girl responds) O, I C

(Girl to boy as they’re having a picnic) U 8 L D X!

SOME ADDITIONAL IDEAS (Not in the book)

(Appreciate) A-P-C-8

(I appreciate you) I A-P-C-8 U

2 D RSQ (I added this one: To the RESCUE! In honor of President Monson)

Who Is My Neighbor

Posted on September 18, 2016 by MEEThinks

WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR? By Virginia Mueller, Illustrated by Lorraine Arthur.

Who is your neighbor? A neighbor is part of your family of love. He does not live in your house, but he should live in your heart. Neighbors are everywhere. They live in the house next door, in the tent next to your tent, across the hall, two farms down a country road. Some neighbors live faraway. They may be people you have never seen – who have difference faces and live in different places. You can thank God for His blessings by sharing with these neighbors – food to eat, clothes to wear, medicine to make them well, money to build a schoolhouse, or dig a well for water. With neighbors who live nearby, you can share backyards, apples from your apple tree, falling leaves, a puddle, a secret. Who is your neighbor? A neighbor is someone who needs you. You can be a good neighbor by helping someone who needs help, by caring what happens to others, by giving instead of getting. Neighbors work together. Neighbors play together. Neighbors pray to our Father together. A neighbor is part of your family of love. God wants you to widen your heart to include all of His children.

Thank you – all of you and each of you – for being wonderful neighbors and compassionate Good Samaritans. Have a beautiful Sabbath!

GLADYS MAY AYLWARD

Posted on July 3, 2016 by MEEThinks

I listed some books I’ve enjoyed a couple of days ago, and I want to share a little bit about one I just finished: The Little Woman. This is the story of a young woman, Gladys, who lived in England the first 30 years of her life but ended up in China for most of the rest of her life. She was born the same year as my Dad: 1902 (24 Feb), and she died on 03 Jan 1970. She worked as a housemaid when she was young, but always had a desire to be a missionary. As she approached 30, she heard that there were millions and millions of Chinese who had never heard of Jesus Christ. She had a great desire to go there and teach them of Christ.

She used her life savings on a train passage to Yangchen, Shanxi Province in China. It was a perilous journey, including traveling across Siberia. She had lost almost all her belongings by the time she escaped from the Russians, was allowed on a Japanese ship, and then took another ship to China. She lived with an old missionary, Jeannie Lawson, when she first arrived. She eventually learned the language and became a “foot inspector” for the government at a time when they said young girls could no longer have their feet bound (I saw many Chinese women when I was first in Hong Kong who’d had their feet bound… they could hardly walk on the little stubs). Gladys became a Chinese citizen when she was 34 and was loved and respected. Her Chinese name was Ai Wei De, an “approximation” for Aylward meaning “Virtuous One.” The same Ai character, along with “Sister” [2 more characters], was my name when I served in Taiwan and Hong Kong. When the Japanese began invading and killing in 1938, Gladys led over 100 orphans to safety over the mountains, despite being wounded herself.

She never married, but she adopted quite a few orphans. She returned to England when she was 46 and helped many Chinese people because of her love for them and her fluency in Mandarin. After 10 years she tried to return to China but the communist government would not allow her to come back. So she settled in Taiwan and founded the Gladys Aylward Orphanage. She worked there until her death in 1970, just short of being 68. I almost made this a SHOUT-OUT but wanted to tell about the book… please consider it both about BOOKS and READING, as well as a SHOUT-OUT to a wonderful, amazing soul!

A movie about her life – “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” – was made in 1968 (and filmed entirely in North Wales and England). The film didn’t please Gladys because of all the liberties that were taken. She felt her reputation was damaged. Her real Chinese name wasn’t used; “Zhen-Ai” was instead, meaning true or real love. Ingrid Bergman was tall, blonde, Swedish, and didn’t speak with a cockney accent. The movie also left out the struggle that was made by Gladys and her family for her initial trip to China. Many other extremely hard times were “dressed up” in favor of a happier story, with her real life made way too “Hollywood.” You can read more about her amazing life at http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/73.html (it’s NOT the Hollywood version). A school was named in her honor, and there is a commemorative plaque on the house where she lived in England. I hope I’ve shared enough about her that you will know why the following section from her story touched me SO DEEPLY: She performed miracles working in leper colonies and in prisons, and she was devoted to orphans (many of whom she adopted).

When the communists took over, they encountered the large group of young people whom Gladys and others had been teaching (almost all of whom had started in Christian schools such as those started by Gladys). They handed out a long form for each student to fill in. Gladys somehow got a copy of it and said there were strange and even ridiculous questions asked, with nothing about religion or politics. However, the very last question asked the students to put a CIRCLE if they were FOR the communist government, and an X if they were against it. When the forms were examined, 300 had put circle, and 200 had put an X (they were against the government – they were Christians). The government gave the 300 a command to use any method they chose to bring the 200 “in line.” It was horrific. The forms were handed out again after a few months, and there were more X’s!! Fewer young people in favor of communism! They found out that the group of 300 would interrupt the 200 having a special prayer meeting at 7:00 each morning before breakfast at 8:00 and classes beginning at 9:00. When their prayer meeting was disrupted, they began meeting at 6:00. Disrupted again, so they began meeting at 5:00, then 4:00 . . . it went all the way to midnight!… and the Christian students weren’t getting much sleep. So the government isolated each of these Christians and put them under the guard of 10 “red-hot” communists for 3 MONTHS. They were watched constantly, jeered, talked at, indoctrinated. Gladys and others could have no contact with them. They watched and worried. They knew that many were “babes” in the Christian faith. They prayed for them. At the end of the 3 months, everyone was forced to meet in the market square, surrounded by a huge squad of communist police. In a witness box a man with a list began calling out the names. He called out the first, and a girl of 17 stepped forward. Now I’ll quote from the book to the end of this experience: She was refined and beautiful, and had been brought up in one of those lovely courtyards that belonged to the wealthy of Peking before the war. She had been sent here for safety – now she stood before her accusers! “What position are you standing in now?” bellowed the voice of the man in the box. She walked to the little platform. She faltered a little and we thought she was going to fall. Why put this slim, frail slip of a girl up first? we questioned. Poor child, how can she stand? Then her voice ran out, suddenly clear and strong. “Sir, when I went for my three months’ indoctrination, I thought Jesus Christ was real. I thought the Bible was true. Now I KNOW Jesus Christ is real, I KNOW this Book is true!” One after the other of these two hundred names were called out, and not one faltered, though they knew enough of their persecutors by now to know that they would be made to suffer. Every one of them was beheaded that very day in the marketplace. Before each execution the victim was given one last chance to recant; but even those at the end, who had been forced to watch the terrible butchery of all the others, did not flinch. “Why,” people ask, “did God allow it?” Was it because He loved them so much that He took them before worse terrors and tortures befell them? Theirs, maybe, was the easier death. They went straight to those many mansions their Saviour had gone before to prepare for them. They had followed Him even unto death. I look forward to meet Gladys someday, and I feel comforted knowing that she is with the 200 young people who were murdered that day and MANY others whom she loved and served during her life. (No wonder WHNF is trying so HARD to prevent us from going into Mainland China! I love it that there is already a mission in China, many members, several stakes, and even a TEMPLE! (In Hong Kong, which is now part of China again). ONWARD, EVER ONWARD!!!!!

SUMMER READING

Posted on July 1, 2016 by MEEThinks

The summer is in full swing, it seems. And the calendar says it’s JULY! So I decided to share some thoughts about reading. I LOVE TO READ (in case you were wondering). I’m always reading several books at a time. Different times of day, different locations. And some I listen to. I read “serious” things in the morning. I read The Book of Mormon every year and love and cherish that book SO much. I “rotate” the other Standard Works, and I’m currently reading The Old Testament. I don’t think I’ve read it “clear through” more than about 7 times. Sometimes I smile – like when I read of the brothers, Huz and Buz (Genesis 22:21; I think they’re twins. I can’t help smiling!). Two other names that make me smile are sons of Benjamin: Muppim and Huppim (Genesis 46:21); maybe they’re also twins? Or this wise counsel (which I used a lot as a missionary): Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing (Deuteronomy 14:3).

OK… I assure you that I don’t read the scriptures just so I can find things to smile or laugh about. I’m reminded of so many incredible stories and examples. I’ll share just one here. It’s the reunion and reconciliation between Jacob and Esau after Jacob has served Laban for around 20 years. This is in Genesis 33. Jacob is nervous. He divides up his family and prepares MANY gifts for Esau. What happens next is a beautiful example of forgiveness and kindness. Esau sees Jacob and asks “What do you mean by all these gifts??” Jacob says he’s hoping to find grace from his brother, his twin. Verse 9: Esau: “I have enough, my brother; keep that thou has unto thyself.” Oh my . . . isn’t that beautiful! That touched me so deeply! To have enough – to know you have enough – is a gift, isn’t it. A spiritual gift. It’s like a thought I’ve shared quite frequently: “It is probably a better blessing to want less than it is to have more.” Another way to say it: “It’s a better blessing to need less than to want more.” Anyway, Jacob shares this after Esau’s sweet response: (Verse 10) “Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then [please] receive my present at my hand; for therefore I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God [!], and thou wast pleased with me.” He urges Esau to accept the gifts (Verse 11) “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” (They both feel and say that they have enough and to spare – see Doctrine and Covenants 104:13-18). Jacob then urges Esau to take the gift, and he does. And they get ready to depart. Verse 12: “Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.” There is this acknowledgement: “the children are tender” and “the flocks and herds” have young … if they travel too fast, all the flocks will die. So: “you go first,” and then, in Verse 14: “I will lead softly” . . . . Oh, I just LOVE so MUCH of what is recorded in the Old Testament! And, of course, in ALL scripture!

Another book which I’ll probably finish today is The Crucible of Doubt by Fiona and Terryl Givens. Oh, I love the way they write, the way they share. I learn and feel so much! Another book by the two of them is one I love as well: The God Who Weeps. I recently finished The Contrite Spirit by Bruce and Marie Hafen, and what a beautiful book! It gave me SO much to think about. Also All That Was Promised, about the building of the St. George Temple and the settling of that area in the 1800’s. SO many sacrifices! SO many miracles! (I highly recommend the books I’m mentioning). I’ve begun one of my favorite books for the 5^th of 6^th time: The Infinite Atonement by Brother Tad R. Callister. If you’ve not yet read it, please consider doing so. The Atoning Sacrifice of the Savior is central to everything else about His gospel.

I’m reading a book by Marilyn Green Faulkner which is absolutely wonderful. It’s an amazing “mix” of humor and thought-provoking truths. The User-Friendly Book of Mormon. It has just recently been published, but some of you may have read it or heard about it. It’s delightful and delicious! “Timeless truths for today’s challenges.” On the back cover: “You’ve never read the scriptures quite like this. Ancient prophets can help with modern-day dilemmas, told through entertaining parables such as “Nephi and Netflix,” “Isaiah goes to girls’ camp,” “The brother of Jared’s guide to dating.” She writes about the Liahona and asks “How can I get one of these?” Don’t get the idea that this is a “funny book.” It’s NOT. (And don’t get the idea that she even knows I’m writing about her book!) But she has the ability to be creative in sharing truth and inviting us to love and search The Book of Mormon even more than we already do. Great insights are shared, there are many references, and she leaves space for the reader to add “Your stories and thoughts.” She asks many questions, like “Are you a spiritual geriatric?” “What’s a parent to do?” “Can we have it all?” “What do we expect from a prophet?” She shares many thought-provoking ideas, such as “The difference between God and Santa Claus,” “Control versus Influence,” “Your wrestling match with God,” “Be careful what you wish for.” I think you’d really enjoy this book. And MANY OTHERS TOO!!!

As I mentioned, I read “serious” things in the morning, including scriptures and the Ensign. In the evening I like mysteries and all kinds of other books to get my mind ready to settle down and sleep (ha). (Sometimes I choose a real “page-turner,” and I keep saying to myself “just one more chapter!”) The difference between now and when I was a child is that I don’t have to use a flashlight and read under the covers….

HAPPY SUMMER READING TO YOU!!

BEVERLY CLEARY

Posted on May 4, 2016 by MEEThinks

You know I love to read. LOVE to read!! I’m always reading several books at once (in different locations and different times of day). Today I want to celebrate the life of a great soul who wrote many books you may have read: BEVERLY CLEARY. She turned 100 on 12 April!

This is actually a SHOUT-OUT to her, but I decided to post it in BOOKS and READING. I first knew anything about her when I was a camp nurse (Nurse Melon!… I can still hear children’s voices calling to me, and me hoping it was nothing TOO serious) at Shady Lawn Farm in Oakdale, California.

Her children, twins Marianne and Malcolm, were at the camp. They were wonderful kids – very polite, cheerful, and well-mannered. We had a day when parents and other family came to watch what their children had learned about riding horses (my sisters Susan and Ann both taught riding there), and it was fun matching parents with children!

In an article written about her, Beverly didn’t seem too excited to talk about turning 100 and said “Go ahead and fuss… everyone else is.” HA!

Children all over the country were being asked to “drop everything and read” to commemorate Cleary’s contribution to children’s literature. As for celebrating her birthday, she said she was keeping it low-key – a celebratory slice of carrot cake (one of my 2 favorites!!!), “because I like it.”

This wonderful author has been called as feisty and direct as her famously spirited character Ramona Quimby (an observation she hears often and doesn’t care for). She reports that although she thought like Ramona, she was “a very well-behaved little girl.”

She still talks about her characters as if they are friends. Even if she doesn’t want to be compared to Ramona, she confesses that the spitfire is her favorite. The charming and better-behaved Ellen Tebbits is a close second. She would have both girls over to dinner, she says, “but not at the same time.”

Book4

Her mother read to her regularly, and she loved that. She didn’t start reading books on her own until third grade.

She worked as a children’s librarian for some time. Later she paid for her education by working at various jobs, including as a seamstress and a chambermaid. She now lives in a retirement home in Northern California and describes it as very nice – she can look out on trees, rabbits, and birds. She gets up early each morning and spends the day reading newspapers and books and doing crossword puzzles. She said she enjoys writing letters (doesn’t have a computer) but that when you’re this old “there aren’t many people to write letters to.”

She shared some thoughts about children these days: “I think children today have a tough time, because they don’t have the freedom to run around as I did — and they have so many scheduled activities.”

Beverly3

More than 40 of her books are still in print. She won many awards, including a “Living Legend” award from the Library of Congress in 2000. Her last book, “Ramona’s World,” was published in 1999.

Beverly7

So today we’re celebrating this wonderful writer of great children’s books, and we’re also celebrating the JOY and PLEASURE of READING!!

More from the book quiz

Posted on October 23, 2015 by MEEThinks

There were additional comments made about the quiz I posted yesterday. You’ll find my favorite if you keep reading. But don’t cheat, OK? OK! (I have my sources).

One of the comments was so funny that I had to share it. It seems there was a Far Side comic showing Herman Melville writing and discarding page after page after page, tearing his hair with frustration: “Call me Warren.” “Call me Roger.” “Call me Larry.” “Call me Al.” “Call me Bill.” HA HA HA

There are so many great beginnings to books – the kind of beginning that pulls you in immediately. Here are a few more which have been shared:

Brady Udall’s “The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint” begins with: “If I could tell you only one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As formative events go, nothing else comes close.” The reader who made the comment added: “Hard to put the book down after that.”

One reader shared this: “The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.” Thus begins Stephen King’s epic 7 volume Dark Tower series.

Another shared this one: “The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become Legend.” It’s from “Every Wheel of Time.”

Here’s one from a book published in 1961. The contributor put it this way: “A small dusty man in a small dusty room. That’s how I always thought of him, just a small dusty man in a small dusty room.” Yeah, it’s two lines with the period inserted; but one of my favorite memorable lines from a book read 40 years ago. It’s from The Black Shrike by Alistair Maclean.

Here’s a great opening to a piece in an article published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1936: “It was now lunch time and they were all sitting under the double green fly of the dining tent pretending that nothing had happened.” “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway.

Here are a few more: “People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.” (From “True Grit” by Charles Portis)

“This book does not claim to be an account of facts and events but of personal experiences, experiences which millions of prisoners have suffered time and again.” (From “Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Victor Frankl).

And this from one of my favorite books of all time: “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” (I don’t even need to include the title, do I).

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” You guessed it! Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (He is SO quotable!)

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” (1984 by George Orwell)

Here’s another one that’s easy to guess: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

I remember friends and I used to start some conversations with the beginning of a book (I can’t remember the name of it): “It was a dark and stormy night….”

“The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.” Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”

But of all the ones I read, this is the one which “took the prize” for MEE: “I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father….” FANTASTIC!!! A book you can’t and shouldn’t “put down.”

BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS!

Posted on October 22, 2015 by MEEThinks

With a huge thank-you to Jackie Hicken and the Deseret News, here’s a quiz about BOOKS. Her title was “Think you know literature? See if you recognize these famous first lines.” So… when you get a chance… off you go! (And if you have amazing self-control, don’t look at the answers before you give your best shot at guessing).

QUESTION 01 – “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.”
A. “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” by Charles Dickens
B. “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
C. “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder
D. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee

QUESTION 02 – “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
A. “1984,” by George Orwell
B. “Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury
C. “Battlefield Earth,” by L. Ron Hubbard
D. “Catch-22,” by Joseph Heller

QUESTION 03 – “The boy with the fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.”
A. “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding
B. “Oliver Twist,” by Charles Dickens
C. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain

D. “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett (I don’t know why Lord Fauntleroy refuses to be right behind Tom Sawyer … I’ve tried way too many times to “shorten the gap” … still on that steep learning curve!)

QUESTION 04 – “Once on a dark winter’s day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares.”

A. Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

B. Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

C. “A Little Princess,” by Francis Hodgson Burnett

D. “Eight Cousins,” by Louisa May Alcott

QUESTION 05 – “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.”
A. “Rebecca,” by Daphne du Maurier
B. “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Bronte
C. “Mansfield Park,” by Jane Austen
D. “The Romance of the Forest,” by Ann Radcliffe

QUESTION 06 – “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
A. “Middlemarch,” by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)
B. “Wives and Daughters,” by Elizabeth Gaskell
C. “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen
D. “Agnes Grey,” by Anne Bronte

QUESTION 07 – “He lay flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees.”
A. “Gulliver’s Travels,” by Jonathan Swift
B. “The Deerslayer,” by James Fenimore Cooper
C. “The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame
D. “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” by Ernest Hemingway

QUESTION 08 – “Call me Ishmael.”
A. “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
B. “Moby Dick,” by Herman Melville
C. “The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck
D. “Bleak House,” by Charles Dickens

QUESTION 09 – “Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.”
A. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas
B. “Vanity Fair,” by William Makepeace Thackeray
C. “Daniel Deronda,” by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)
D. “War and Peace,” by Leo Tolstoy

QUESTION 10 – “Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
A. “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” By William Shakespeare
B. “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare
C. “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” by William Shakespeare
D. “The Winter’s Tale,” by William Shakespeare

QUESTION 11 – “A throng of bearded men, in sad-coloured garments and grey steeple-crowned hats, inter-mixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, were assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.”
A. “The Red Badge of Courage,” by Stephen Crane
B. “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
C. “A Study in Scarlet,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
D. “The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

QUESTION 12 – “Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table.”
A. “A Scandal in Bohemia,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
B. “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
C. “The Final Problem,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
D. The Sign of the Four,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

QUESTION 13 – “1801. — I have just returned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.”
A. “The Woman in White,” by Wilkie Collins
B. “The Mysteries of Udolpho,” by Ann Radcliffe
C. “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Bronte
D. “Vanity Fair,” by William Makepeace Thackeray

QUESTION 14 – “3 May. Bistritz.–Left Munich at 8:35 P.M., on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.”
A. “Dracula,” by Bram Stoker
B. “Lord Hornblower,” by C.S. Forester
C. “The Black Tulip,” by Alexandre Dumas
D. “Anna Karenina,” by Leo Tolstoy

QUESTION 15 – “Since Aramis’s singular transformation into a confessor of the order, Baisemeaux was no longer the same man.”
A. “The Three Musketeers,” by Alexandre Dumas
B. “Twenty Years After,” by Alexandre Dumas
C. “The Vicomte de Bragelonne,” by Alexandre Dumas
D. “The Man in the Iron Mask,” by Alexandre Dumas

QUESTION 16 – “I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic.”
A. “Northanger Abbey,” by Jane Austen
B. “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” by Charles Dickens
C. “Frankenstein,” by Mary Shelley
D. “A Study in Scarlet,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’

QUESTION 17 – “You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’; but that ain’t no matter.”
A. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain
B. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
C. “A Horse’s Tale,” by Mark Twain
D. “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” by Mark Twain

QUESTION 18 – “A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green.”
A. “The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck
B. “Brave New World,” by Aldous Huxley
C. “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck
D. “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe

QUESTION 19 – “It was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in the Seeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’s rest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his paws one after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips.”
A. “The Jungle Book,” by Rudyard Kipling
B. “The Call of the Wild,” by Jack London
C. “Watership Down,” by Richard Adams
D. “Animal Farm,” by George Orwell

QUESTION 20 – “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.”
A. “Great Expectations,” by Charles Dickens
B. “The Pickwick Papers,” by Charles Dickens
C. “Oliver Twist,” by Charles Dickens
D. “Our Mutual Friend,” by Charles Dickens

QUESTION 21 – “He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”
A. “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” by Jules Verne
B. “Silas Marner,” by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
C. “Our Mutual Friend,” by Charles Dickens
D. “The Old Man and the Sea,” by Ernest Hemingway

QUESTION 22 – “When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”
A. “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkein
B. “The Fellowship of the Ring,” by J.R.R. Tolkein
C. “Bilbo’s Last Song,” by J.R.R. Tolkein
D. “The History of Middle-earth,” compiled by Christopher Tolkein

QUESTION 23 – “On the first Monday of the month of April, 1625, the market town of Meung, in which the author of Romance of the Rose was born, appeared to be in as perfect a state of revolution as if the Huguenots had just made a second La Rochelle of it.”
A. “The Canterbury Tales,” by Geoffrey Chaucer
B. “The Three Musketeers,” by Alexandre Dumas
C. “Ivanhoe,” by Walter Scott
D. “Treasure Island,” by Robert Louis Stevenson

QUESTION 24 – “I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull.”
A. “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe
B. “The Swiss Family Robinson,” by Johann David Wyss
C. “The Deerslayer,” by James Fenimore Cooper
D. “The Importance of Being Earnest,” by Oscar Wilde

QUESTION 25 – “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
A. “Jo’s Boys,” by Louisa May Alcott
B. “Mansfield Park,” by Jane Austen
C. “Anne of Avonlea,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
D. “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott

QUESTION 26 – “The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”
A. “Emma,” by Jane Austen
B. “Lorna Doone,” by Richard Doddridge Blackmore
C. “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” by Oscar Wilde
D. “North and South,” by Elizabeth Gaskell

QUESTION 27 – “It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts could meet.”
A. “The American,” by Henry James
B. “The Call of the Wild,” by Jack London
C. “David Copperfield,” by Charles Dickens
D. “Last of the Mohicans,” by James Fenimore Cooper

QUESTION 28 – “Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P—–, in Kentucky.”
A. “Gone with the Wind,” by Margaret Mitchell
B. “The House of Mirth,” by Edith Wharton
C. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” by Harriet Beecher Stowe
D. “Black Beauty,” by Anna Sewell

QUESTION 29 – “Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.”
A. “Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
B. “Anne of Avonlea,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
C. “Anne of the Island,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery
D. “Anne’s House of Dreams,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

QUESTION 30 – “In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D—- He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D—- since 1806.”
A. “Les Miserables,” by Victor Hugo
B. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” by Alexandre Dumas
C. “Bleak House,” by Charles Dickens
D. “Madame Bovary,” by Gustave Flaubert

After all I’ve said about how I LOVE BOOKS, and LOVE TO READ, I only got 9 correct . . . . But my 2nd time through I only missed one!! And now for the ANSWERS:

01 B. “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

02 A. “1984,” by George Orwell

03 A. “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding

04 C. “A Little Princess,” by Francis Hodgson Burnett

05 D. “The Romance of the Forest,” by Ann Radcliffe

06 C. “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen

07 D. “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” by Ernest Hemingway

08 B. “Moby Dick,” by Herman Melville

09 D. “War and Peace,” by Leo Tolstoy

10 B. “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare

11 D. “The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

12 B. “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

13 C. “Wuthering Heights,” by Emily Bronte

14 A. “Dracula,” by Bram Stoker

15 D. “The Man in the Iron Mask,” by Alexandre Dumas

16 C. “Frankenstein,” by Mary Shelley

17 B. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain

18 C. “Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck

19 A. “The Jungle Book,” by Rudyard Kipling

20 A. “Great Expectations,” by Charles Dickens

21 D. “The Old Man and the Sea,” by Ernest Hemingway

22 B. “The Fellowship of the Ring,” by J.R.R. Tolkein

23 B. “The Three Musketeers,” by Alexandre Dumas

24 A. “Robinson Crusoe,” by Daniel Defoe

25 D. “Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott

26 C. “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” by Oscar Wilde

27 D. “Last of the Mohicans,” by James Fenimore Cooper

28 C. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” by Harriet Beecher Stowe

29 A. “Anne of Green Gables,” by Lucy Maud Montgomery

30 A. “Les Miserables,” by Victor Hugo

ROALD DAHL

Posted on September 16, 2015 by MEEThinks

One of my favorite stories – probably written for children, but I love it so much – is “The BFG” by Roald Dahl. I have a recording of it which is incredible – the reader is pretty much PERFECT in telling the story just as you’d read it. (I think it’s read by David Williams). Dahl wrote this story in 1982. I’m so glad my friend Janet DA introduced me to it. Roald wrote many other things too, including “James and the Giant Peach,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Danny, the Champion on the World,” “The Twits,” and “Matilda.” I probably didn’t mention your favorite – there are too many to mention them all. He has so many great thoughts in his writing, like “No book ever ends when it’s full of your friends” (from “The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me”), and “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face” (from “The Twits”).

He was born in 1916 in Cardiff, Wales, and passed away in November 1990 (only 74 years old). His parents were both from Norway. He was named after the Polar explorer Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian hero. His first language was Norwegian. He was raised in the Lutheran faith. He was a tall man: 6’ 6”. He loved literature, sports, and photography. He served in several ways during WWII, including the Royal Air Force. He married actress Patricia Neal in 1953 in New York City. Their marriage lasted for 30 years and they had five children.

They divorced in 1983 and he married Felicity “Liccy” Crosland. Dahl was buried in Buckinghamshire, England. He was given “a sort of Viking funeral.” Children frequently leave toys and flowers by his grave. The Deseret News published many quotes from his books, and I decided it would be fun to share them. Enjoy!

A Story from World War II

Posted on July 26, 2015 by MEEThinks

I’m reading a very interesting book: Sergeant Nibley PhD: Memories of an Unlikely Screaming Eagle. It’s a biography of Hugh Nibley’s experience during WWII. I had no idea he’d been part of the 101st Airborne Division, that he’d been at Camp Ritchie, that he was part of D-Day at Normandy, and so on. I’m not all the way through the book yet but wanted to share one story that touched me so deeply. I hate war. I hate the evil that exists which causes people to treat others so horrifically. I won’t go on and on about this, because I really don’t know how to describe what I feel. One thing that caught my attention was (as I mentioned) that Nibley was at Camp Ritchie. I recently watched a documentary on “The Ritchie Boys” – young men who were from Germany, Austria, and other places where German was their first language, and now they were living in the USA. They were made part of a group which interrogated POW’s (among other things) and the movie had extensive interviews with many of these aging “Ritchie Boys.” And then I found out that Hugh Nibley had been there, and became friends with a few of them! Anyway, here’s the story which I read yesterday which touched me so deeply: (Pgs 133-136) As remembered by Hugh Nibley in an interview with his son Alex, who helped write the book:

Once we were in Carentan, the division set up headquarters by the canal that ran through the town. There was a brick building, a factory, there, and we saw a man looking out of the window. The Germans had cleared out of the building, but there was somebody peeking out the upper window seeing what was going on below. Somebody was observing us. Well, Major Danahy (now Colonel Danahy they’d made him) says, “Go up and see who that is.” So Dave Bernay and some others went to look, and they brought a guy down. He was dressed in civilian clothes, but he spoke German, so Colonel Danahy said, “Take that man out and shoot him,” and he assigned that to Dave Bernay. Well, Dave had done plenty of killing and he hated Nazis, so this was not a particularly tough assignment for him. He put his gun over his shoulder and said, “Come along, let’s get going,” and took the prisoner out across the fields. They came to a drainage ditch with a little water in it and Dave says, “Step over the ditch,” in German: “Eibe dein fluss.” “Ah, you speak German?” the prisoner says. Obviously the guy wanted to stall as long as possible. He saw this guy was going to shoot him, and he wanted to make friends with him, do something. I would certainly start talking, especially if the soldier spoke German. So they struck up a conversation. Dave says, “Yes, I speak German.” “Where are you from?” “I’m from Maxmiliansau,” Dave said.

Now Nibley describes the village (he served a mission in Germany): The village of Maxmliansau was hardly more than one factory on the Rhine where they made celluloid out of pine logs. When I was a missionary you’d find rafts of pine logs floating down the river, and you could get on and paddle across on them. Those came from the celluloid factory at Maxmiliansau. That was all there was to the town – not many people lived there, it was just a factory.

Back to the story: “Maxmiliansau?” the prisoner said. “Did you know Herr Bernay?” “He was my father,” Dave said. And the man looked at him and he said, “My little David!” and he threw his arms around him and took him in a fond embrace. It turned out this was the guy who got the Bernay family out of Germany and saved their lives! Dave’s father was the one who managed the factory, and this man was the Bernay house-servant. He had helped them escape the Nazis and saved their lives. He had been a laborer in the camp by Carentan, and the reason he had stayed behind to spy was because he wanted to desert to us, he was waiting there to give himself up. Dave told about it later and he just wept like a fish. “My little David!” That was a close call. Instead of shooting him, they took the guy and gave him a job working in the kitchen.

Wow. That really did touch my heart and soul. A sweet, rare experience in the midst of the hell that is war.

Christopher Morley

Posted on July 2, 2015 by MEEThinks

There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it. It is like falling in love.

MEE Thinks

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