This week on Crack the Book, we take a big leap forward—from Augustine’s Confessions in the ancient world to 14th-century England—with selections from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. No translation was needed, technically, but the Middle English still felt like a new language.

Both were new to me, which now feels shocking—how did I miss even a snippet of Chaucer or Arthur in school? Ted’s excerpts kept our reading manageable at about 250 pages total, but I’m glad I didn’t have to choose between them. The shift from Greece and Rome to medieval England was disorienting: the worldview feels earthier, even more “pagan” in spirit, with a Christian overlay steeped in legend.

In The Canterbury Tales (Prologue, Knight’s Tale, Miller’s Tale, Wife of Bath’s Tale), Chaucer’s mastery of distinct voices shone. The Knight’s romantic chivalry contrasted with the Miller’s bawdy humor and the Wife of Bath’s abrasive self-portrait—the first woman narrator we’ve met so far. These tales, rich in character and social observation, left me curious about the medieval English church, its distance from Rome, and the lived faith of ordinary people.

Le Morte D’Arthur surprised me by being harder to read than Chaucer’s verse. Malory’s prison-penned prose follows the Holy Grail quests of Galahad, Perceval, and Launcelot, where success hinges on chastity, humility, and freedom from sin. The Christian themes were far stronger than I expected, yet still tangled in a world of knightly pride and mortal failings. Galahad’s virtue is his power; Launcelot’s moral struggles bring defeat.

This week left me wanting more—more Chaucer, more Arthur, and much more medieval English history. The period feels misty, almost secretive, and I’d like to learn what was happening between Rome’s fall and England’s flowering. Ted’s pick, Beethoven’s late string quartets, proved a thoughtful companion, deserving focused listening in its own right.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

CONNECT

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Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

What happens when a brilliant young skeptic is prayed into faith by his mother? This week I finished Confessionsby St. Augustine. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, but the first nine books were a revelation.

Written around 400 A.D., Confessions traces Augustine’s path from pagan philosopher to Christian convert. His story is deeply personal, full of reflection on education, desire, ambition, and the slow turning of a heart toward God.

Highlights from the reading:

• Augustine’s mother, Monica, is a quiet force of grace and persistence. She’s a moving example of faithful motherhood.
• His critiques of education—especially content that stirs up harmful desires—feel surprisingly modern.
• He’s hard on his parents, who overlooked his vices in favor of worldly success. Food for thought for sure!
• His conversion, sparked by Bishop Ambrose and a reading of Romans 13, is profoundly moving.
• The book overflows with Scripture, especially the Psalms, and includes beautiful reflections—like comparing his misuse of gifts to the prodigal son.

The final chapters shift into dense theology and left me missing the warmth of the earlier story. Still, the first nine books are extraordinary.

Music this week: Bach’s St. Matthew Passion—challenging, but deeply beautiful.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week I’m considering two spiritual classics from very different traditions: the Bhagavad Gita and the Rule of St. Benedict—well, sort of. Due to a packing mishap and a limited bookstore selection, I ended up reading Benedict’s Way, a modern commentary that includes excerpts from the Rule, rather than the Rule itself. Not ideal, but still worthwhile.

I also tried a technique I’ve used before: reading both texts in tandem, switching back and forth every few sections. The hope was to let the texts “talk” to each other. While the Gita turned out to be far more cohesive than I expected, the method still worked; it helped me reflect more deeply and spot some surprising resonances.

The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu sacred text, is a dialog between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna, who is paralyzed by moral doubt on the battlefield. Krishna urges him to act according to his dharma—his essential nature and duty—without attachment to outcomes. It’s a powerful reflection on purpose, identity, and spiritual freedom. And despite some troubling implications about who gets access to enlightenment, it’s my favorite of all the Eastern texts so far.

Meanwhile, Benedict’s Way offered a glimpse into monastic—and any kind of communal— life centered on humility, community, and attentiveness to God and neighbor. It’s full of practical, humane wisdom, from leadership advice to a firm stance on not grumbling.

Together, these texts suggest that joy, discipline, and love of the divine aren’t exclusive to one tradition. And both offer something compelling for modern life.

This is a year-long reading project! Next week: Augustine’s Confessions. (Spoiler: it’s so good.)

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

Interview with Jonathan Haidt and Jordan Peterson

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week’s reading was A Thousand and One Nights, also known as The Arabian Nights. The backstory (very, very briefly) was that a king, upon finding his queen to be unfaithful, executed her, and declared himself done with women, sort of. Every night, a new woman was brought to be his queen. Every morning he had his vizier execute the poor unfortunate girl. One day the vizier’s own daughter Scheherazade asked to be married to the king. After many days of begging, the vizier finally gave in to the girl’s request.

Once in the king’s bedchamber, her sister (it’s kind of complicated) asked for a story. Scheherazade spun a tale but ended it at a cliffhanger. The king, wanting to hear the end of the story, decided to let her live and bring her back for a second night. With stories that included Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin, Scheherazade lived a thousand and one (and more) nights.

The actual stories are collected from around the 8th century until the 13th, from Persia and India predominantly. They were translated into English around the 17th century. I’d imagine that the exotic stories captivated European audiences!

For me, the experience of reading the stories was similar to reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The stories are fun, and very interesting—I loved some of them, especially the seven voyages of Sinbad. But when I say they didn’t leave a mark, I just don’t think I’ll take a lot from this week’s reading. I didn’t find any of them to demonstrate particular lessons, to teach virtues or make some kind of grand statement about the human condition. They were really fun, and I will definitely keep this book around because it is terrific bedtime reading. That’s not a terrible thing to say about a book.

A year ago I read the wonderful Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, about a little Iranian boy who emigrates to Oklahoma with his mom and brother. There are vignettes in which the author directly references these stories, related as a way for him to hold onto his Persian heritage. I do think I’ll go back and reread that one, just because I really loved it and would like to be able to know it a little better. Now that I’ve read Arabian Nights, that should be easy.

LINK

Daniel Nayeri, author of Everything Sad is Untrue

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week, we take on Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, a hilarious surprise from Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course. Written in the mid-300s A.D., this is the very first Latin prose novel, penned by Algerian-born Apuleius. Lucius, our hero, is a young man who meddles in magic, transforms into a donkey, and embarks on wild adventures before returning to human form. We were so captivated that note-taking fell by the wayside, much like with Herodotus’ Histories. This rollicking tale, brimming with late-Roman-Empire themes, proved both hilarious and profound.

Unlike Aristotle’s structured tragedy guidelines (see Week 5's Poetics), The Golden Ass defies unity of action, place, and time, weaving a tapestry of digressions and sub-stories. Lucius’ transformation serves as a spine for tales like “I heard…” or “So they told me…,” echoing the nested narratives of The Odyssey and The Aeneid. The standout sub-story is the myth of Cupid and Psyche, the earliest known version, which stunned us as the inspiration for C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. Its late appearance for a myth feels significant, reflecting a decadent, fatigued Roman worldview. Fortune, personified as in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, reappears, underscoring this era’s preoccupations.

Sarah Ruden’s translation is a triumph, preserving Apuleius’ puns, alliteration, and bawdy humor. This farce, second only to Lysistrata in humor, is delightfully NSFW, with outrageous scenes that shocked even our son Jack. Ruden notes comparisons to modern humorists like Wodehouse or George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series, and we see parallels to Forrest Gump—Lucius stumbles through events without driving the plot. The book’s influence extends to A Confederacy of Dunces, sparking new reading threads for us, exactly why we joined this course.

We paired this with Scott Joplin’s ragtime, evoking The Sting’s lively vibe. Initially, the rags blended together, but subtle differences, like occasional piano percussion, emerged over time, enriching our listening. Next week, we continue with more narrative, music, and art, including Vincent van Gogh’s works, in this eclectic journey.

Join us next week as we travel east and read The Arabian Nights.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

O Brother Where Art Thou

Circe

Ragtime (The Sting, YouTube)

Young Gun Silver Fox

Ted's "New" Yacht Rock post

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

I'm reading and talking about Ted Gioia's "Immersive Humanities Course," 52 weeks of World Classics.

Before we start, though, we talk about graduation speeches...and share the graduation speech we wish we'd heard.

Next, we journey from Western literature back to ancient China to explore two timeless texts: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (c. 500 B.C.) and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (c. 400 B.C.), roughly contemporary with Confucius and Plato. After a lukewarm experience with Confucius’ Analects in Week 4, we adjusted our approach to these aphoristic works, splitting each into five parts and interleaving them daily. While this didn’t make reading easier, it encouraged comparisons between the two.

The Tao Te Ching offers a serene philosophy of “the Way,” advocating a life of detachment and flow, like a leaf on a stream. Key insights include prioritizing essence over form (e.g., the space within walls over the walls themselves), embracing hands-off leadership, and avoiding rules or weapons that may incite vice or war. But it's passive: retreating rather than advancing in the face of evil feels challenging, especially compared to active resistance like Gandhi’s. The Tao’s detachment felt isolating, distinct from the interconnected self-emptying of the Dhammapada or Boethius’ Christian-Stoic blend.

In contrast, The Art of War is a ruthless manual of military strategy. Sun Tzu, who famously beheaded two concubines to prove his methods to King Ho Lu, emphasizes deception, swift victory, and avoiding prolonged conflict. Key takeaways: defensive measures prevent defeat but don’t ensure victory; desperate soldiers fight hardest; and spies are a humane, cost-effective tool. We ponder the status of Sun’s soldiers (free or enslaved?), recalling Herodotus’ Spartan-Persian debates on free men’s ferocity. The texts seem to clash: the Tao’s passivity versus Sun’s calculated control, though Sun’s strategic setups might align with the Tao’s inevitable flow.

We noted a cultural contrast: Chinese texts lack the narrative epics of Western heroes like Odysseus or Gilgamesh, hinting at differing worldviews. Unlike Confucius’ moral focus, neither text emphasizes goodness, which surprised us. Our Tao edition (Stephen Miller’s) felt overly modernized, while our unannotated Art of War was dry but tactically insightful, especially for business or military studies. Pairing it with Herodotus or Machiavelli could be illuminating.

Don't skip the music! Three albums each from the Beatles and The Rolling Stones...when was the last time you listened to one all the way through?

Next week, we return to narrative with Apuleius’ Golden Ass, explore Scott Joplin’s ragtime, and admire van Gogh’s art.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ 

LISTEN

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

In this episode, my son Jack joins me to examine The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, a Roman scholar living just after the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE. A renaissance man before the Renaissance, Boethius translated Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato, served as a trusted aide to the Gothic king Theodoric in Ravenna, and was a mathematician, astronomer, and family man whose sons became consuls in their early 20s. Despite his Christian faith, tensions with the Arian Theodoric led to his imprisonment and brutal execution at 44. This tragedy tarnished Theodoric’s rule, but Boethius’ legacy shaped medieval thought, preserving Greek philosophy and influencing giants like Chaucer, Dante, Aquinas, and Shakespeare.

Written in a cell awaiting death, The Consolation of Philosophy is a profound dialogue between Boethius and Lady Philosophy. Divided into five books, it blends prose (prosa) and poetry (metrea), offering wisdom through a narrative arc. Book One introduces Boethius’ despair; Book Two explores Fortune’s fickleness; Book Three seeks the highest Good; Book Four tackles the problem of evil; and Book Five reconciles divine foreknowledge with free will. The poems, rich with mythological and Biblical imagery, provide emotional breaks and reinforce the prose’s insights. As C.S. Lewis noted, this work was beloved by educated Europeans for centuries.

Boethius weaves Neoplatonism, Stoicism, and Aristotelian ideas into a Christian framework. Lady Philosophy echoes Plato’s belief in innate knowledge, urging Boethius to “dream of your origin,” and champions philosopher-kings. Stoic themes emerge as she declares the mind free despite bodily exile, while Aristotle’s Unmoved Mover aligns with Boethius’ God. The concept of exile as a spiritual crisis resonates, connecting Boethius to figures like Odysseus and Dante.

Jack and I discuss whether this is a satire, and how much both of us love Boethius as a character in his own novel.

The Ignatius Press edition, translated by Scott Goins and Barbara Wyman, shines with clear prose, excellent footnotes, and quality paper—perfect for annotating. This book demands a reread and sparks a reading list including Chaucer, Milton, and C.S. Lewis’ The Discarded Image. Join us! I think this book is for everyone, but even if you think, "Maybe not for me," you'll know what it's about and why it matters.

This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for Sun Tzu's The Art of War and The Tao Te Ching from Lao Tzu.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ 

LISTEN

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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

In this episode of Crack the Book, we take a look at Week Fourteen of Ted Gioia’s Humanities Course, covering Virgil’s The Aeneid (Books 1–2), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book 1), and selections from The Portable Roman Reader. The focus is on key texts from Roman literature, their historical context, and their connections to earlier Greek works, providing an overview of their content and significance.

Key Discussion Points:

• Virgil’s The Aeneid (Robert Fagles’ Translation): Written between 29–19 BCE, The Aeneid serves as Rome’s foundational epic, modeled on Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Book 1 opens with Aeneas, a Trojan survivor, shipwrecked on Carthage’s shore due to Juno’s interference, meeting Queen Dido, an exile from Tyre. Book 2 recounts Troy’s fall, including the Trojan Horse stratagem and Aeneas’ escape with his father Anchises and son Ascanius, losing his wife Creusa. The text emphasizes Aeneas’ pietas (duty to gods, family, state). Divine rivalries, notably Juno’s grudge from the Judgment of Paris and Venus’ protection of Aeneas, drive the narrative. The Fagles translation includes maps and a glossary for accessibility.
• Ovid’s Metamorphoses (David Raeburn’s Translation): Composed around 8 CE, Metamorphoses is a 15-book poem chronicling transformations from creation to Ovid’s era. Book 1 covers the creation of the cosmos from Chaos, the division into four elements (fire, water, earth, air), and humanity’s decline from the Golden to Iron Age. It includes a flood narrative with Deucalion and Pyrrha and the story of Io, transformed into a cow by Jupiter to evade Juno. The Raeburn edition organizes vignettes with titled sections for clarity.
• The Portable Roman Reader (Basil Davenport, Ed.): Published in 1951, this anthology includes poetry from Rome’s Republic, Augustan, and later Empire periods. Catullus (c. 60s–50s BCE) offers direct, personal verses, translated by Byron. Horace (65–8 BCE) writes complex, philosophical odes, less accessible due to style. Martial (c. 38–104 CE) provides epigrams on public life, including two elegies for a deceased young girl. Davenport’s notes contextualize each era, and the anthology features prose by Livy, Caesar, and Tacitus for future study.
• Contextual Notes: The texts reflect Rome’s engagement with Greek literary traditions, adapting gods’ names (e.g., Hera to Juno) and themes. The course’s schedule prioritizes rapid coverage to identify key works and connections.

Takeaways:

I loved this week so much! It felt great to come "home" to Rome. I've got specific ideas about how to approach each of these books, but in my opinion they are all worth the time for certain people.

The music was gorgeous, arias and overtures from Puccini and Verdi! You must listen...check out my link below. And the cave paintings were worth examining as well, especially the handprints from Indonesia. See that link below, too.

This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for WHATEVER IS NEXT

LINKS

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

Spotify Play List of Puccini and Verdi without words

Cave Paintings

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

The Honest Broker’s Humanities Course shifts to the Middle East and Persia, exploring the Quran (circa 800 A.D.) and the 13th-century poet Rumi, before returning to Rome next week. The reading, kept under 250 pages, includes 14 of the Quran’s 114 surahs (1-5, 12, 17, 18, 32, 36, 55, 67, 103, 112) and self-selected Rumi poems. New to both texts, I approached them with curiosity, trusting the curator’s selection after prior Bible readings, but found the experience underwhelming.

The Quran portrays Allah as focused on division between believers and unbelievers, with frequent mentions of hell for those lacking faith. Submission to Allah’s will is paramount, and praying toward Mecca symbolizes spiritual alignment and community unity. The text excludes Jews from Abraham’s promise if they do wrong, though some verses suggest salvation for believers, possibly including Jews and Christians. Jesus is depicted as a prophet, not divine, contrasting Christian beliefs. Allah seems to emphasize punishing unbelievers, with hell referenced often, and fasting is highlighted as a path to righteousness, noted during Ramadan.

Familiar Biblical stories—Cain and Abel, Joseph, Moses—appear but differ from their older Genesis versions. Joseph, for example, is nearly perfect in the Quran, unlike the flawed figure in the Bible. The origins of these variations remain unclear after online research. Some Quranic verses, like “God does not burden any soul beyond its capacity” (Surah 2:286), contrast with Christian teachings, such as Galatians 6:2’s call to “bear one another’s burdens.”

Rumi’s poetry feels modern and dreamlike but elusive compared to upcoming Roman poets. Plans are in place to revisit Rumi when studying Dante, a contemporary. The Quran was read on a Kindle (Clear Quran translation), which hindered the experience due to reliance on spatial memory for physical books, making note-taking and recall difficult. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music and Islamic architecture were briefly explored but felt overwhelming. Next week’s reading covers Virgil’s Aeneid (Books 1 and 2), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Book 1), and selections from Horace, Catullus, and Sulpicia in Davenport’s Portable Roman Reader, with Verdi and Puccini arias and cave art.

LINKS

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

Rumi's Poems

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

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Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Can you be scandalized by a 2000-year-old book? I think I was with Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars, a gripping, gossipy account of the first twelve Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian. Written around 120 AD, Suetonius’ work (part of The Honest Broker’s “Humanities in 52 Weeks” list) blends history with salacious details, offering a vivid, if dark, portrait of power, excess, and moral decline. It's not exactly light beach reading but proved endlessly fascinating for its unapologetic dive into the personal lives of Rome’s rulers.

Suetonius, born around 70 AD to a Roman knight family, organizes the book into twelve biographies, which I've listed here for easy reference:

• Julius Caesar
• Augustus
• Tiberius
• Caligula
• Claudius
• Nero
• Galba
• Otho
• Vitellius
• Vespasian
• Titus
• Domitian.

Notably, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, from the chaotic years of 68-69 AD, were barely recognized as emperors. Each biography sketches the ruler’s family background, reign, military campaigns, and personal habits, with Suetonius excelling in the juicy details of their excesses. His vivid prose, like describing Caligula as transitioning from “emperor” to “monster,” reveals the depravity of unchecked power—think murders, incest, and shocking debauchery.

The book’s strength lies in its storytelling, but its darkness—wanton death, sexual depravity, and a lack of heroism—can be exhausting. The Roman people’s hope for better rulers is repeatedly dashed, as seen when Caligula’s assassination leads to Claudius, another cruel leader. The complex web of intermarriage and adoptions among the Julio-Claudians is dizzying, with family trees barely helping. Economically, Suetonius notes rising “value” in Roman real estate under Julius Caesar, missing that this was inflation driven by reckless state spending, a recurring issue that strained the empire and its people.

Suetonius’ perspective, shaped by living through Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian’s reigns, adds depth, though his distance from earlier emperors allows for embellishment. This week's music was Mozart’s symphonies 39-41, sweetness and light compared to Rome’s darkness.

This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for the Koran and the poems of Rumi.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

I misspoke! Gates of Fire was written by Steven Pressfield, not Victor Davis Hansen. Sorry about that!

CONNECT

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ 

LISTEN

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd

Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 

Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm