Yes, it’s time once again to choose some great books to read together in the Best Books Club. In preparation I sent out an email to our registered members and received dozens of suggestions for classics to share. Several readers had favorite classics that they wanted to revisit (Les Miserables and To Kill a Mockingbird are perennial favorites) and others had a challenging volume in mind that they wanted to tackle (Moby Dick and The Odyssey turned up here). Using a completely non-scientific formula which combines your suggestions with books I have wanted to read myself, I have selected six books, and present them here as our list for the first half of 2004. (Drum roll please.)

January: Dear and Glorious Physician, by Taylor Caldwell (reviewed below)

February: Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo was the most popular novelist of his day. It is said that over three million Frenchmen filled the streets when his funeral cortege passed by. Though most of us have read, and love, Les Miserables, many readers expressed a desire to revisit this great work and discuss it with the group.

March: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

This book has one of the most beautiful and evocative first lines I have ever read: “Ships in the distance have every man’s wish on board.” Hurston was a writer out of step with her time. She wrote a beautiful, haunting tale of love and loss in the days when only angry, political novels were embraced by African-American literati. But this book, like those ships loaded with dreams, was bound to return sometime, and draw us in.

April: Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a remarkable woman who wrote two great books: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. A passionate convert to the philosophy of capitalism, she developed a philosophy she called objectivism, and used her books to promote her life view. This is usually the recipe for mediocre writing, but in Rand’s case her talent shines through. Many readers have found this a life-changing book.

May: The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

We know Dickens of course, but his friend Wilkie Collins was just as popular in his day. This classic mystery is told by several different narrators, each of whom gives a different perspective on the crime. It is a spellbinding novel, and great fun to read aloud.

June: My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin

Each year I like to try to bring you one or two novels that you may not have heard of, and this is a great favorite of mine. I’m interested in anything to do with Australia, and this wonderful tale of a young girl’s odyssey out of the outback is priceless.

So we have six great books to curl up with in the next few months, some large and serious and some smaller and fun. Each takes us into a world we ought to know more about and acquaints us with characters that will become lifelong friends. That, to me, is what is so great about great books.

Now, a word about our January selection.

Dear and Glorious Physician, by Taylor Caldwell

I have my doubts about historical fiction as a genre, and generally stay away from it, since it is so hard to tell where the history ends and the fiction begins, and vice versa. But sometimes (as long as we go in with our eyes open) it is fun to allow an author to create a picture of history for us, and Taylor Caldwell is a master at this form. Here she gives us a deeply interesting picture of the clash of cultures that created Luke, apostle and author of the third gospel. We know very little about Luke other than that he was a physician, that he also wrote the Book of Acts, that he was a companion of Paul, and that he did not personally know the Savior. With this as a premise Caldwell places him in a home raised by Greek parents who serve a Roman Lord who employs an Egyptian tutor for his own daughter and young Lukanus (as he is called). Later, in the great medical school at Alexandria he becomes the pupil of an Israelite scholar who introduces him to the beliefs of the Jews. Always, Lucanus is seeking something, or someone, who haunts his dreams. It is, of course, the Lord.

Caldwell has a remarkable facility with the technical aspects of life. Most interesting to me were her descriptions of medical procedures and even surgeries as they were performed at the time. I have read that her descriptions are historically correct and filled with the kind of detail that makes physicians admire her work. She is equally at home in discussions of philosophy, scripture and religion. Her weakness, to my mind, is a tendency to preach her political point of view. Caldwell was a conspiracy theorist who was convinced that a small group of individuals controlled the economies and political destinies of nations. The older she got, the more these views found expression through her characters, and this gets in the way of the story.

For those of us who have spent years studying the gospels, it is fascinating to imagine what kinds of experiences prepared them to become the chroniclers of the life of our Lord. Certainly we can sense a strong personality and a particular point of view in each gospel. Though Caldwell’s version of Luke’s life is recognizably Catholic (he is celibate, of course, and has the mystical powers of a saint) her picture of the kind of life he must have led gave me a richer view of the times. Here is a moment that is a fine example of Caldwell’s descriptive power:  Lucanus, who has avoided his young step-brother because he reminds him of a lost loved one, melts toward the young boy, whom he has healed from a serious ailment:

“Priscus screamed with joy. He released Lucanus’ nose and grasped the young man’s curling forelock and pulled. Lucanus marveled at his strength. Here was a child who only six months ago had lain in his arms like a limp puppet, breathless and blue, limp as melting wax. All at once Lucanus was filled with pride and affection. He held out his arms for the boy, and Priscus promptly threw himself into them. The warmth of his small and sturdy body pierced to Lucanus’ very heart; he kissed the bare brown shoulders, the dimpled knees and elbows. He kissed the eyes so like Rubria’s, and then, very tenderly, the mouth that was a small replica of hers.  His eyelids prickled and his throat tightened.

Long out of print, Dear and Glorious Physician is easily found in used bookstores, on Amazon, or in your local library. If you haven’t spent time with Taylor Caldwell, you’ll find she has done her research and has a view of history that will stimulate your imagination and your intellect.

Readers comment on Dear and Glorious Physician:

I read DEAR AND GLORIOUS PHYSICIAN years ago and loved it so much that I followed it with GREAT LION OF GOD which was also great.  I love to read well-researched historical fiction.  I look to read books that will truly lift and enlarge my life and feel more and more daily that I don’t have time for any that don’t.  I appreciate your suggestions. Bonnie

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Excellent choice!  I too have enjoyed Taylor Caldwell.  My favorite of hers was the book about Cicero.  I’m trying to remember the title; it’s around here somewhere…A Pillar of Iron!  Almost anything from C.S. Lewis would be good.  Pride and Prejudice is my favorite–but I know you did Mansfield Park a little while ago.  My current readings are the Tony Hillerman mysteries–very well done. Cindy

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I read the selection you speak of and think it is an outstanding choice. As for future classics, I recommend and unknown author by the name of Darrell H Egbert. The book is the “Indenture of Edward St Ives.” It can be found by typing this name into “google.” I must tell you, however, that most of the readers so far are domiciled in England. This is where the professor who owns the web site went to school. But we should not hold any of this against him/they, because obviously they/him know good literature when they see it. Good talking to you, stay in-touch. Darrell Egbert

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I love the choice of Taylor Caldwell. I read Dear and Glorious Physician years ago, and will resurrect it and read it again.  Just a plug for Dickens and Kipling. I’ve just rediscovered them. I love the delicious use of the English language that these two authors employ. Reading the Just So Stories and Rikki Tikki Tavi by Kipling aloud to children and grandchildren is a joy. They just do not hear lovely English like that in many books, and there is a sweetness and a clarity that I love.  Ann

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I read Dear and Glorious Physician years ago and loved it.  It might be good work to revisit.  I went through a “read everything by Taylor Caldwell” period and loved every minute of it! These is My Words by Nancy Turner is excellent.  Our book club read it and everyone loved it.  I have recommended it to my ninth grade honors students and they loved it and shared it with their moms.  Great book.   Connie

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I think I did read this book years ago, but it has faded from my memory, I would love to read it again.  Taylor Caldwell has always been a favorite author of mine and I have read many of her books, the first one being Dynasty of Death, which introduced me to her.  Bev