Need some summer reading?☀️

Here are 40 excellent adventure books for kids!

1. Treasure Island
2. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
3. The Wind in the Willows
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth
5. King Arthur (Pyle) 6. Around the World in 80 Days
7. The Hobbit
8. Robinson Crusoe
9. Call of the Wild
10. The Hardy Boys Series
11. The Martian Tales (ER Burroughs)
12. Ivanhoe
13. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
14. White Fang
15. The Red Badge of Courage

Can we read the Bible like Aquinas and Dante?

In the 1300s, Dante wrote a letter to his patron stating you read the Divine Comedy like you read Scripture.

But how should we read Scripture? Here's his lesson:
Dante set forth four senses (or layers) to Holy Scripture:

Literal
Allegorical
Moral
Anagogical

Dante does not invent these. He's pulling from Jesus, St. Paul, the Early Church Fathers, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Classical education is sweeping the country.

Here are 12 of the best books on classical education.

Let's restore true education!📚⬇️ 1. Norms and Nobility, Hicks
2. The Trivium, Sr. Miriam Joseph
3. The Introduction to Classical Education, Perrin
4. The Classical Catechism, Esolen
5. The Great Tradition, Gamble
6. The Idea of a University, St. John Henry Newman

"And Satan entered into Judas..."

➡️8 things you need to know about Judas Iscariot, the greatest traitor in human history.

A Holy Thursday thread.
1. Who was Judas?

Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ (Matt 10:4). He was in charge of the money (John 12:6).

BUT none of the other disciples discerned Judas' malicious will... (John 13:22).

The Great Books will change your life.

And the Iliad is the FIRST great book.🥇

Here are 10 LESSONS from the Iliad that will change your life.

✅ 10. The Iliad is at the heart of Western civilization - the storytelling, motifs, characters, virtues, etc., resonate within us. ✅ 9. Rome is the Final Revenge of Troy

Aeneas is given a destiny in the Iliad to rule Troy - but how can this be since Troy will fall?

Virgil tells us that Aeneas escaped Troy and founded Rome.

Rome, a Trojan colony, conquers Greece and finds revenge upon the Achaeans.

The Iliad is better than the Odyssey.

It is a story of rage, fate, human excellence, and man's fraternity under death.

Let's look at 10 reasons why the Iliad is such a great text and rests at the heart of Western civilization.

A thread 🧵⬇️ 1. The Iliad is the first great book of the West.

Without the Iliad, there is no Odyssey. There is no Aeneid or countless other books. The story of civilization starts with the Iliad. It is the story of Rome, Europe, and the West.

40 Adventure Books for Boys 📚

1. Treasure Island
2. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
3. The Wind in the Willows
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth
5. King Arthur (Pyle)

A thread 🧵 6. Around the World in 80 Days
7. The Hobbit
8. Robinson Crusoe
9. Call of the Wild
10. The Hardy Boys Series

We are asked about Wilson's translations often.

We do not recommend them.

Here are few reasons why:

https://twitter.com/hyuumanatees/status/1872363110935445879

First, as a preliminary, we recommend the Fagles translation - it is poetic, solid, and dynamic.

A great read for first time readers.

For our "Year with Homer" we have posted: 53 podcasts and videos with 60+ hours of conversation on the Iliad and Odyssey. You can read Homer!

Our friend @costofglory wrote an article that on its face is against great books.

Are the "great books" for losers?
Should we just study "great men" instead?

Let's look at his claims 🧵⬇️ 1. You can read Alex's article and his own thread the subject here: 🧵

https://x.com/costofglory/status/1858536617834610741

In one of the most important passages in the Odyssey, Odysseus is offered an immortal life of pleasure with a beautiful goddess, Calypso.

He says no.

How can he say no?

Homer gives us a subtle hint that unfurls the ancient view on glory, death, and mortality. 🧵 The story of Odysseus and Calypso is found in Book Five of the Odyssey.

In the opening of that book, Homer changes his typical line about the "rosy fingers of Dawn."

The change should catch our attention.

Instead, he mentions Dawn's lover, Tithonus.

But who is he? 🧵

YOU CAN READ THE ODYSSEY.

⬇️20 Quick Observations on the opening of the Odyssey⬇️

1. The first word of the Iliad is "rage," a divine rage. The first word of the Odyssey is "man." The Odyssey is a much more human book. 🧵⬇️ 2. Both the Iliad and the Odyssey invoke the Muses - but in the Odyssey, Homer defers to the Muse on where to start. This can account for the much more complicated chronological structure of the Odyssey.

3. Both the Iliad and the Odyssey start "in media res" or in the middle.

The Iliad is better than the Odyssey.

8 Reasons the Iliad is simply a better story with better characters than the Odyssey.

Let’s take up a few (somewhat hyperbolic) reasons ⬇️🧵 1. The Iliad is the first great book

And sequels are rarely ever better than the original. There is no Odyssey without the Iliad.

The Iliad is the standard by which all other epics are judged. The Odyssey is good but it’s not the original.

⬇️ 🧵

10 Classic Children’s Books

Here are ten classic children’s books to read aloud to your children.

Cultivate their imagination.

Show them what is true, good, and beautiful.

Here are books that can help! ⬇️ 🧵 1. The Complete Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

Charming, bucolic tales of naughty Peter Rabbit and his friends.

Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Squirrel Nutkin
Tom Kitten
Jemima Puddle-Duck

And much more! 🧵