Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Welcome to the Billings Family Book Club!

This is our first entry on a blog we are starting, to record our adventure into great literature.  As part of our homeschooling program, we have identified a list of books we would like our children to read over the next few years. And, of course, we will be reading the books with our children.

Nathaniel selected the first book:  "Oliver Twist," by Charles Dickens.

In the first chapter, we see the circumstances of Oliver's birth in a workhouse to an unwed mother.  "'The old story,' he (the surgeon) said, shaking his head: 'no wedding-ring, I see."  The thought that occurred to me, reading this, was, "How far we have come from the days when we expected mothers to be married."  I don't call it progress.

We see that Oliver's mother died shortly after his birth, and that Oliver's mere survival was miraculous.  "Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them."  But survive he did -- and "cried lustily." 

"If he could have known that he was an orphan ... perhaps he would have cried the louder."

I'm looking forward to other posts as we proceed through this classic book.  We invite you to join us!

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