Half A Year Later… (+ a reading update)

 Well, to terribly understate a fact - things have changed. 

1, I’m finally writing another blog post! Yay!

2, I am, officially, a college student. It’s insane. And also wonderful. I get to do music all day long in a delightfully music-filled city (and no math… *cue rejoicing*)

I’m going to be rather busy, but I do hope I can do some more regular blogging! I’ve been doing a lot of reading, so perhaps it will take form as book reviews.

And speaking of which - 

I can’t remember what I’ve read since I last posted (although I do know there weren’t as many books as I should have liked) but most recently has been Anna Karenina and Theo of Golden. 

my edition - a beautiful translation!

I LOVED ANNA K. It was brilliant. A work of art. Superb. 100% would read again. The characters are soo well-developed, prose (even in translation because I fear I do not know Russian, alas) is beautiful, everything is perfect. A page-turner for sure (couldn’t stop reading even when I needed to practice… oops). 

I might do a full review of this one later, complete with quotes and what-not! I certainly hope to do so.

As for Theo of Golden…

Perhaps it was a mistake to read it right after Anna K. Perhaps I am not understanding the book as I ought. Perhaps I am wrong. (I really don’t think so.) But I couldn’t finish it. 

lovely cover, though

It was just… really long. Not like a Les Mis long, either. More like… a Space Odyssey long. Lots of filler. Lots of cardboard cut-outs and stereotypes. Lots of stilted dialogue. 

I wanted so so desperately to love this book. The concept was beautiful. A man changing peoples’ lives through art? Yes please.

Unfortunately, the execution was… not what I’d hoped. Much as I wanted to, I couldn’t force myself to finish it. Maybe I will someday, but as Aragorn would say, today is not that day. The whole thing felt forced and a little contrived. Dialogue felt unrealistic and rather adjective-heavy. There were many parts that sounded (although I doubt they actually were) like AI. Each of the characters struck me as a little bit stereotyped: the kindly old man whom everyone likes (and who knows everything about EVERYTHING), the abrupt war veteran with a Traumatic Past, the typical small-town-dwellers who all love this guy they barely know (after, of course, being suspicious of him and having a sudden change of heart after talking to him once.)

And maybe it’s just me, but the title-first-name (“Mr. Theo”, for instance) REALLY bothered me. Now, people don’t know Theo’s last name, so that I guess could be justified, but EVERYONE does it. “Ms. Katherine, Mr. James”, and so on and so forth. Ladies and gentlemen, this TRIED me, it really did. If you want to show respect to someone, address them by their proper title (Mr. Ponder, etc.). If you know someone well, call them by their first name. The other way, the intermediate way, that means absolutely nothing.

Please.

Don’t get me wrong, though, there were some beautiful things about the book. The way art was discussed, for example. I love it when books treat art as something to be cherished and valued wholeheartedly. That is what attracted me to the book in the first place, and it’s the only reason I would have wanted to keep reading. Art, whether it’s painting or music or anything else, is not just a universal hobby, it’s a language, a blessing, a career, a story waiting to be told. Creation, or rather sub-creation, is one of the most beautiful things man can do (and one of the ways we can best glorify God.) That part of this book I loved and appreciated. (Thank you, Mr. Levi - or should I say “Mr. Allen”? - for doing at least one thing right.)

I also loved the faith content. It wasn’t explicitly Christian, but God was brought in a lot (a little heavy-handedly) but also in some very beautiful ways. 

“For anything to be good, truly good, there must be some love in it. Whether the art is sculpture, farming, teaching, lawmaking, medicine, music, or raising a child—nothing is what it’s supposed to be if love is not at the core.” - Theo of Golden

If over-long, heavy-handed, super-nice books are your thing, by all means, read this book. You might love it. I, alas, did not. (You are also very welcome to disagree with me. (Nicely.) I can take it.)

Anywho—

You can expect more frequent posts from me (I hope!!) from now on. Also, I am fully aware that I have been nominated for a Biography Tag an embarrassingly long time ago (thank you Lizzie and I apologise for my aforementioned embarrassing delay… hi again) but I will do my best to get to that soon! (It’s been like 3 months, what’s another week?)

Till next time then! It’s good to be back :)

- Hannah

Read The Hobbit with me!

there are things more beautiful

than words can ever tell  

  I’m running a book club this year and our current book is the Hobbit - so I thought it might be fun to do a post on each couple chapters I read! It would be especially fun, I think, because this blog was kind of founded on my love for Tolkien :)

    So this is both the intro post and the review of chapters 1-3. I have no idea how many times I’ve read this book, but I think I love it more every time. Bilbo is the funniest, sweetest, most relatable protagonist ever written (in my personal opinion) and I love watching his character face (many) challenges and victories and grow in the end. 

    Also I love how different the tone of the Hobbit is from The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien wrote it for his children, and you can almost taste his delightful wry humour. For example (just to choose one, because there are too many delightful moments to choose from): 

    “Thank you!” said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horribly thought that the cakes might run short, and then he—as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful—he might have to go without.” (Gasp! The horror—no cake!)

I would be upset too if I knew I wouldn't get any of this...

    And of course there’s Gandalf’s classic “do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not, or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?” (I shall be using this very frequently.)

    And then too there are beautiful things, like Bilbo’s thoughts while listening to the dwarves sing. 

    “As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.”

    Those words wake up something inside of me, much as the dwarves’ song do in Bilbo. I want adventures like those—like Bilbo goes on to have. Something inside of me has always craved adventure, and I think it always will. But like Bilbo too, a part of me loves the comforts of home. Cozy things are beautiful too, and I think one of the most lovely things about the Hobbit is that it holds both in tension. Tolkien shows us comfort, and then shows us adventure, and makes us realise sometimes we must be made uncomfortable to truly appreciate the beautiful things in life. (Yes, I am well aware that I sound very academic. No, I do not apologise. Even “children’s books” have meanings deeper than those on the surface.)

    So overall—this is and will probably always be one of my favourite books. I’ll leave you with a part from the dwarves’ mountain song that will hopefully encourage you to pick it up too :)

far over the misty mountains cold

to dungeons deep and caverns old

we must away, ere break of day

to find our long-forgotten gold

There and Back Again

there is a time for the evening under starlight,

a time for the evening under lamplight

(the evening with the photograph album).

(t.s. eliot, the four quartets)

    It’s been almost two months since I’ve been here. Things look a little different (and not just because I redesigned the header). I’m a different person than I was two months ago, although I’m not quite sure what’s changed. I travelled all around the country auditioning for music schools, and then came home. And home is the same, but I am not.

    I have learned to love life more. I have learned to push myself harder than I ever would have thought possible, and I have learned when to rest. And most of all I have learned to place my trust in God no matter what. Some things might not turn out the way you thought they would, but His plan is better than mine.

    Even still, sometimes I miss gallivanting around the country. There was a sense of excitement to it. I’m going on an adventure. And sometimes I’m happy to be home, before I leave next year on another adventure.

    All that being said, all this traveling and this series of auditions is only a slight foretaste into what my life will be like starting next fall. Everything I am is going to go into violin. And that’s what I want. I’m not going to stop loving great books and having deep conversations - banish the thought! But things will be different. I don’t know quite how yet, because I’m still in the process of choosing a school (after getting back some exciting offers!) People who haven’t gone through this process won’t quite know how difficult it is - there are many more factors than one would think that go into choosing a school. (I may do a post on that at some point - it’s important, even if it isn’t very literary.) 

    I guess all this is to say that though I will be posting and writing, it won’t be as often. But I will never stop loving the things that prompted me to start this blog, and I hope to keep it as long as I can. In the interim, I’m starting to do some more writing again, and will hopefully post a lot more in the weeks to come. 

    I have only a few months left before I leave this part of my life behind forever and I am going to hold onto them tight until there is nothing left to hold. I am going to get the most out of them and cherish the memories. Of people, of laughter, of difficulties, of doing hard and good and beautiful things together. I’m going to miss it, this world. But I’m going to do something that I love, and I am going to do it well for the glory of God. And my childhood home and these friends I have made, they are not lost. I am only leaving for a time, like I have done before, and then I will come back.

    I will come back, and we will laugh together again.

January Inklings (I know it’s February… shhh)

    It’s been rather too long since I’ve done an Inklings post. Last month’s was a scene with a horse in a book or film.

    I agonised over what to choose for this for a grand total of perhaps a minute. I always talk about the Lord of the Rings. I could talk about it for hours. I really should choose something else. I am, after all, a well-rounded person with a variety of interests.

    And, well, I lost that particular fight. So here’s a scene (with not one, but many horses) from the Lord of the Rings. All credit, of course, to the inestimable J.R.R. Tolkien.

At length even Gimli could hear the distant beat of galloping hoofs.

The horsemen, following the trail, had turned from the river, and

were drawing near the downs. They were riding like the wind.

Now the cries of clear strong voices came ringing over the fields.

Suddenly they swept up with a noise like thunder, and the foremost

horseman swerved, passing by the foot of the hill, and leading the

host back southward along the western skirts of the downs. After him

they rode: a long line of mail-clad men, swift, shining, fell and fair

to look upon.

Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-limbed; their

grey coats glistened, their long tails flowed in the wind, their manes

were braided on their proud necks. The Men that rode them matched

them well: tall and long-limbed; their hair, flaxen-pale, flowed under

their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them; their

faces were stern and keen. In their hands were tall spears of ash,

painted shields were slung at their backs, long swords were at their

belts, their burnished shirts of mail hung down upon their knees.

In pairs they galloped by, and though every now and then one

rose in his stirrups and gazed ahead and to either side, they appeared

not to perceive the three strangers sitting silently and watching them.

The host had almost passed when suddenly Aragorn stood up, and

called in a loud voice:

‘What news from the North, Riders of Rohan?’

In Which I Say Goodbye To 2025 (Featuring a life update and my book highlights)

It’s raining as I write this.

I will never not love the rain, I think. There’s something so calming and beautiful about it. I’d be happy if it rained every day.

This year has been… well. It’s certainly been. Joyous and sorrowful and full of laughter and tears and successes and disappointments. In other words, life. When I think about everything that’s happened, I see God in my life and I’m thankful. He’s good and everything will turn out right because of Him.

This season in my life is particularly difficult. I’m in the process of auditioning for major music schools across the country, and it takes a lot of dedication and no small amount of time. So if I disappear from the blogiverse for an extended period, it’s probably because I’m off somewhere practicing my tail off. 

Yet despite the difficulty, it’s still good. I get the chance to pursue a career in the thing I love doing most in the world. Hard things are worth doing. Perseverance.

But somehow I’ve also managed to read a good deal this year (thank the LORD!) In no particular order, I’ve compounded a list of my most memorable books of 2025. Enjoy!

1. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott*

3. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery*

4. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery*

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen*

6. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

7. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

8. That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis*

9. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien*

10. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

11. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett*

12. Echoes of a Silent Song by Amanda Wen

13. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis*

14. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis*

15. The Book Jumper by Metchthild Glaser

16. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë*

17. The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

19. What Comes of Attending the Commoners’ Ball by Elisabeth Aimee Brown

20. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

* = re-reads

Happy New Year!

Hannah

In Which I Indulge My More Rambly Tendencies

You ever get the feeling where you have so much to say but you’re not quite sure how to say it? I do. I try to keep a journal, but time, that cruel invention, runs away from me like Peter Pan’s shadow. Sure an’ don’t I know that’s everyone’s favourite excuse.

I was re-reading Emily of New Moon the other day - Anne Shirley’s less famous literary sister. Emily’s a writer, or at least she’s becoming one. Father Cassidy tells her to “keep on”. I remember that sometimes, when I’m not sure what else to do. “Keep on”. Keep going. Don’t you dare ever give up. You can become something, if you work hard enough. God knows how much I want that.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

I am a lover of beautiful things in a world that is often cruel. You see something ugly and you think oh, how terrible. You see something beautiful and your soul sings. Words move, music moves / only in time; but that which is only living can only die. Words after speech / reach into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern can words or music reach / the stillness, as a Chinese jar still / moves perpetually in its stillness.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Hannah

A Christmas Blog Tag

 Merry Christmas (again!) I’ve been tagged for the Christmas Blog Tag and this felt like a very fitting day to stop procrastinating that. (For obvious reasons.)

    Here are the rules:

1. Acknowledge who tagged you (Thank you, Lizzie!)
2. Answer the questions
3. Tag friends & notify them
4. Fill out this form to have your blog challenge post spotlighted on The Moonlight Wanderer’s December Newsletter! (Optional)
5. Have fun!

1. What are some traditions that you and your family have leading up to the holidays? And what’s something new that you want to try this month?

Let’s see… we get our tree around the end of Thanksgiving season, and continually procrastinate on putting up Christmas lights. On Christmas Eve, we go to our church service (my brother and I join the worship team with our violins), watch Miracle on 34th Street and wrap presents - it started as more procrastinating, but it’s become a fun tradition! As for something new… hm. We’re always do so busy that we’re kind of lacking in the decoration department, so it would be wonderful to do some more of that.

2. What’s your favourite Christmas recipe, food, or drink?

I’m a sucker for hot chocolate, apple cider, tea, and anything peppermint!

3. Every Christmas is different, and some years come with unexpected twists. But if you could have the perfect Christmas, what would the day look like for you?

Well, it doesn’t snow where I live, but if I had my way it would! We’d get up on the relatively early side, eat blueberry pancakes and exchange gifts, maybe take a trip to the mountains or something, and have a generally cozy time. And then we always have family over for dinner, which is really wonderful!

4. What are some of your favourite winter activities? (e.g. carolling, sledding, drinking hot cocoa)

Really all of the above! I love Christmas activities in general, and also reading cozily by the fireplace and exchanging gifts.

5. Do you decorate? How?

Like I said, I do wish we decorated more than we did, but we tend to favour candles and greenery and red ribbons and also some Norwegian traditions, because my family’s very European.

6. What is your favourite Christmas song or hymn? Why is it your favourite?

I don’t have a favourite, per se, but I do love The First Noel because it has an interesting and beautiful melody and also encapsulates the entire Christmas story.

7. What’s a gift or experience you’re really wishing for this Christmas? And what’s your favourite gift to give others?

We live about a two hour drive from the mountains and slightly longer than that from Sedona, and I do love taking road trips to see snow! As for what to give others… I don’t have a lot of time or money, and usually give people hand-painted gifts.

8. Describe some of your favourite Christmas memories. 

There are a lot, but some of my favourite include Christmas Eve services and time with family on Christmas morning.

9. What is your favourite Christmas-y book? Movie?

I love The Christmas Carol, The Gift of the Magi, and also It’s A Wonderful Life and really all old movies.

10. List ten words to that encapsulate the feel of Christmas for you.

cozy

family

Christ

candles

peppermint

apple cider

red

fire

snow

laughter

11. In your own words, what is the meaning of Christmas?

Christmas literally means Christ’s mass. It’s a time of gift-giving and remembrance and beauty and joy. It’s a time of spending time with family and eating good food. But most of all, it’s a time of worship and of glorifying God for the good He’s done for us.

And I’m not sure who’s been tagged and who’s not, so if you’d like to steal it, feel free!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, good will towards men.”

Merry Christmas! “God bless us every one.”